Sarah Connolly Mezzo-soprano

Sarah Connolly was born in County Durham in the United Kingdom and studied piano and voice at the Royal College of Music where today she is an honorary member. She was made a Dame Grand cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2017. She also received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Award in 2012. She has performed numerous roles during her career, including Dido (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas) at Milan’s La Scala and London’s Covent Garden, the Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Clairon (Capriccio) at the New York Metropolitan Opera, Orfeo (Gluck’s Orfeo) at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper, the title role in Ariodante and Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito) at the Aix Festival, the title role in Giulio Cesare and Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at the Glyndebourne Festival, Nerone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and the Liceu in Barcelona, Fricka (Das Rheingold and Die Walküre) and Brangäne at London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Phèdre (Hippolyte et Aricie) at the Paris Opera, Nerone, the title role of Agrippina and Brangäne at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and Fricka (Wagner’s Ring Cycle) at the Bayreuth Festival and London’s Royal Opera House. She recently made her Vienna Staatsoper debut in a new production of Ariodante. She also makes regular guest appearances on the stage of the English National Opera (Octavian, Charpentier’s Médée, Agrippina, Xerses, Ariodante and Ruggiero in Alcina, Lucretia, Dido, Romeo, and Sesto). During the 2019-2020 season, she will be performing the role of Orfeo (Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice) at the English National Opera and Fricka at the Teatro Real de Madrid. Sarah Connolly also sings in concert (Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg, Tanglewood, the Three Choirs Festivals) under the musical direction of conductors like Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Sir Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In 2009, she made a guest appearance at The Last Night of the Proms. She has made numerous recordings two of which received Grammy Awards.