ABOUT
“LeMesh is a singing machine, and she offered one of the most impressive, virtuosic operatic performances I have ever seen, vocally and histrionically.”
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.
The 2024-25 season saw Ms. LeMesh join Florentine Opera as a Resident Artist, where she performed the roles of Galatea in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Luigia in Donizetti’s Viva la mamma!. In addition, she covered the role of Micaëla in Carmen, while also performing the role of Frasquita. This summer, Ms. LeMesh will be in residence with the Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) at the Lake George Music Festival. A regular guest artist with the group, she most recently performed with them in November 2024 at their newest venue, Roulette, in Brooklyn; in January 2024, she interpreted works by Germaine Tailleferre and Francis Poulenc to critical acclaim as part of BASS’s concert “Les Six”. (“Her vocal dynamism and sonorous timbre filled the hall with an aura of sound.” OperaWire)
She began the season at Lincoln Center, singing Schumann and Strauss songs in a September 2024 recital with other alumni of the Marlboro Music Festival who studied under Juilliard faculty member Dr. Lydia Brown. June 2025 found her at another iconic New York institution, when she performed with the New England Symphonic Ensemble as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, singing in Schubert’s Mass No. 4 in C Major and Vivaldi’s Magnificat.
The rising soprano’s 2023-24 season included numerous role and company debuts. In June 2024, she debuted the titular role of Marie in Donizetti’s La fille du régiment with the Opera Company of Middlebury (VT). February 2024 saw her perform the role of Isabel Perón in Carlos Franzetti’s Corpus Evita with West Bay Opera. In between, she joined The Little Opera Theatre of New York in May, singing Narcissa in Haydn’s Jupiter’s Journey to Earth. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in March as the soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria with the New England Symphonic Ensemble. She followed that with her Lincoln Center debut in April 2024, performing an excerpt from Lori Laitman’s operatic treatment of The Scarlet Letter, and, in June 2024, she returned to the performing arts center complex to sing the soprano solo in Max Richter’s Woolf Works with American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House.
During the 2022-23 season, Ms. LeMesh joined Opera Philadelphia to cover Nellie/The Madwoman in the world premiere of Rene Orth’s critically acclaimed opera, 10 Days in a Madhouse. She was also a Resident Artist with Opera Naples, where 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. In the summer of 2019, Ms. LeMesh performed the role of Bess McNeill in the West Coast premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking The Waves with West Edge Opera. Additional opera credits include Lisa/Young Leah in Lori Laitman’s Uncovered with City Lyric Opera, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Pocket Opera, and Norina in Don Pasquale with the Mendocino Music Festival.
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.
