ABOUT

Romanian-American soprano Sara LeMesh, praised by San Francisco Classical Voice for her "lush tone, exceptional high-register clarity, dramatic breadth, and fearless command," is equally at home on the opera stage and in the concert hall. An avid chamber musician, she is comfortable in a wide variety of genres and repertoire, and is also a devoted advocate of contemporary music. 

Garnering praise at international vocal competitions, Ms. LeMesh’s success includes a string of First Prize victories: at the PARTNERS for the Arts, Inc. National Opera Competition; the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition at Carnegie Hall; and the Federation of the Art Song Fellowship Competition. She was also awarded Third Prize at the Zenith Opera Competition in Berlin and the Josep Palet International Singing Competition in Martorell, Spain.

During the 2025-26 season, Ms. LeMesh joins _{Annapolis Opera} to perform the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and will debut Adele in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (company TBA). She also joins the Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) to perform in Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen in the spring of 2026. As a frequent regular guest artist with the group, she most recently sang Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock at the Lake George Music Festival. In May 2026, Ms. LeMesh will debut with the _{Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra} as the soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. 

In summer 2025, Ms. LeMesh debuted as Contessa in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, The Rose in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince, and Antonia in Mitch Leigh’s Man of La Mancha with _{Opera North} in Lebanon, NH. Throughout the 2024-25 season, she joined _{Florentine Opera} as a Baumgartner Studio Artist, performing Galatea in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Frasquita in Carmen, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Luigia in Donizetti’s Viva la mamma!.

Operatic highlights of past seasons include Marie in Donizetti’s La fille du régiment with the _{Opera Company of Middlebury} (VT); Isabel Perón in Carlos Franzetti’s Corpus Evita with _{West Bay Opera}; and Narcissa in Haydn’s Jupiter’s Journey to Earth with _{The Little Opera Theatre of New York}. While a Resident Artist at _{Opera Naples}, she sang the roles of Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Frasquita in Carmen, and Woman #1 in Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s Frida under the baton of Ramón Tebar. 

Recent accomplishments on the concert stage include Schubert’s Mass in C Major and Vivaldi’s Magnificat with the New England Symphonic Ensemble at _{Carnegie Hall} and the soprano solo in Max Richter’s Woolf Works with the American Ballet Theatre at the _{Metropolitan Opera House}. She also joined the Brooklyn Art Song Society in the fall of 2024 to perform Songs of Lament and Praise by Gilda Lyons, and she partnered with Music For Food to perform Schoenberg’s Das Buch der hängenden Gärten at the New England Conservatory with pianist Seth Knopp.

A devoted recitalist and interpreter of concert works, she has performed throughout the United States and Europe at venues and festivals that include the Morgan Library & Museum, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, American Bach Soloists Academy, the YellowBarn summer chamber music festival, and International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum Salzburg, where she worked closely with noted Italian bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi. While at Tanglewood, she was a soloist in Berlioz’s Les nuits d'été under the baton of Stéphane Denève and co-premiered Folk Songs by Bernard Rands. Ms. LeMesh is also one half of the piano-vocal duo Chordless, with pianist Allegra Chapman as her partner. 

The Californian soprano received her Master of Music Degree from the Bard College-Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Rice University.