Sarah Connolly

Born in County Durham, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow.

In opera, her recent appearances have included Purcell’s Dido at La Scala, Milan; the title role in ‘Giulio Cesare’ at the Glyndebourne Festival; Gluck’s Orfeo at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich and Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) for Scottish Opera. Other engagements in Europe have included Purcell’s Dido at La Monnaie, Brussels; Nerone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) at the Maggio Musicale in Florence; Sesto (Giulio Cesare) at the Paris Opera and the title role in ‘The Rape of Lucretia’ at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich. In the U.S. she has sung Annio (La clemenza di Tito) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the title role of Ariodante and Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) for New York City Opera and Ino and Juno (Semele) in San Francisco.

A favourite at the English National Opera, her roles there have included Handel's Agrippina, Xerxes, Ariodante and Ruggiero (Alcina); the title role in ‘The Rape of Lucretia’; Ottavia (L'Incoronazione di Poppea); Dido (Dido and Aeneas / The Trojans); Romeo, Susie (The Silver Tassie) and Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) - for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Her future engagements include her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Purcell's Dido; her debut at the Liceu in Barcelona as Nerone; Octavian for the ENO; Romeo at Opera North and returns to both the Metropolitan Opera and to the Glyndebourne Festival.

She has appeared in recital in London and New York and her many concert engagements include appearances at the Salzburg Festival, Tanglewood Festival, BBC Proms, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with such conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, Edo de Waart, Philippe Herreweghe and Daniel Harding. She has sung ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis; Mahler’s 'Das Lied von der Erde' with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Daniel Harding; the ‘St Matthew Passion’ and ‘Des Knaben Wunderhorn’ with Philippe Herreweghe and Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ with Ivor Bolton in Salzburg.

Committed to promoting new music, her world premiere performances include Mark-Anthony Turnage’s ‘Twice through the heart’ with The Schoenberg Ensemble conducted by Oliver Knussen; Jonathan Harvey’s ‘Songs of Li Po’ at the Aldeburgh Festival and, most recently, Sir John Tavener’s ‘Tribute to Cavafy’ at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

She is a prolific recording artist, twice nominated for a Grammy Award.

Photo: Peter Warren