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. She made 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. She began the 2024-25 season back at the New York venue in September, as part of a recital with Juilliard faculty member Dr. Lydia Brown in _{Juilliard’s Paul Hall} as well as online as a livestream; the concert featured Ms. LeMesh and other alumni of the Marlboro Music Festival, where Ms. LeMesh studied with Dr. Brown, in a selection of Schumann and Brahms songs. The 2024-25 season also sees Ms. LeMesh join Florentine Opera as a Resident Artist, where she will perform 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 is covering the role of Micaëla in Carmen, while also performing the role of Frasquita.

This coming summer, Ms. LeMesh will join _{Opera North} in Lebanon, New Hampshire, where she will perform the roles of the Contessa in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Antonia in Mitch Leigh’s Man of La Mancha, and The Rose in Rachel Portman’s 2007 opera, The Little Prince. She will also 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. Earlier this year, 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)

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. At the Josep Palet International Singing Competition in Martorell, Spain, she was awarded Third Prize, the Audience Choice Award, and the Historical Music Award.

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 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. Late summer 2024 saw her give a solo recital in Procida, Italy as part of her prize for taking first place in the Mimas Music Festival Competition, and she appeared as a Vocal Fellow at the Yellow Barn summer chamber music festival in Putney, Vermont, where she performed in the American premiere of Jörg Widmann's Labyrinth V.

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, Ms. LeMesh is one half of the piano-vocal duo Chordless. Together with pianist Allegra Chapman, Ms. LeMesh creates unique spaces to explore and appreciate music that has historically been ignored or is brand new. The pair recently debuted their concert, Voices of Identity: Songs of the Jewish Diaspora, at the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University with sponsorship from the Federation of the Art Song, and they were in residence at the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco in August 2024.

Ms. LeMesh has performed recitals and concert pieces 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, 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.

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. She currently resides in New York City and studies with Dr. William Riley and Dr. Linda Carroll.