Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow. She was made CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List. In 2011 she was honoured by the Incorporated Society of Musicians and presented with the Distinguished Musician Award and she is the recipient of the the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2012 Singer Award.
Her engagements in the 2013/14 season include the title role in Agrippina at the Gran Teatro del Liceu and the title role in a new production of Ariodante at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. On the concert platform she will sing Octavian Der Rosenkavalier (London Symphony Orchestra/Elder), Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 (Boston Symphony Orchestra/von Dohnányi), Berlioz’ Les nuits d’été (London Philharmonic Orchestra/Nézet-Séguin), Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis), Irene in an American and European tour of Handel’s Theodora (The English Concert/Bicket), the world premiere of John Tavener’s Gnosis at the BBC Proms (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Bělohlávek) and Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Filarmonica della Scala/Harding).
Among her recent highlights on the operatic stage are Fricka Das Rheingold & Die Walküre (Covent Garden); Dido Dido & Aeneas (La Scala & Covent Garden); Komponist Ariadne auf Naxos and Clairon Capriccio (Metropolitan Opera); Phèdre Hippolyte et Aricie (Paris Opera); the title role in Giulio Cesare and Brangäne Tristan und Isolde (Glyndebourne Festival); Sesto La clemenza di Tito (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence); Gluck’s Orfeo and the title role in The Rape of Lucretia (Bayerische Staatsoper) and Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Gran Teatro del Liceu & Maggio Musicale in Florence).
She has also sung the title role in Maria Stuarda and Romeo I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Opera North); Komponist (Welsh National Opera) and Octavian (Scottish Opera). A favourite at the English National Opera, her roles there have included Octavian; the title roles in Charpentier’s Médée and in Handel’s Agrippina, Xerxes and Ariodante, Ruggiero Alcina and Didon Les Troyens.
She has appeared in recital in London and New York and at the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals and her many concert engagements include appearances at the Lucerne, Salzburg, Tanglewood and Three Choirs Festivals and at the BBC Proms where, in 2009, she was a memorable guest soloist at the Last Night. Much in demand for the great lyric mezzo repertory, her recent appearances have included the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis; the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester with Chailly; the Concertgebouw Orchestra with Harding; L’Orchestre des Champs-Élysées with Herreweghe; the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Jurowski, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Rattle and the Hallé Orchestra with Elder.
She is a prolific recording artist, twice nominated for a Grammy Award.
