Sarah Leonard, soprano
© Sarah Leonard
Sarah Leonard is one of Great Britain’s most versatile sopranos. She was born in Winchester and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She performs a wide-ranging repertoire throughout the world. She has sung in major concert halls and festivals, including the BBC Promenade Concerts, Aldeburgh Festival, Lucerne International Festival, Salzburg, Holland, Strasbourg, Venice Biennale and the Perth Festival.
She is closely associated with contemporary music and has worked with many leading composers, including Birtwistle, Boulez, Bryars, Dusapin, Donatoni, Ferneyhough, Kurtág, John Harle, Richard Rodney Bennett, Klaus Huber, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Michael Nyman and Sciarrino.
Opera performances include Dr. Faustus, by Giaccomo Manzoni, La Scala, Milan; To Be Sung, by Pascal Dusapin; Theatre des Amandiers, Paris; Aventures et Nouvelles Aventures, by Ligeti, with Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt; Dirty Tricks, by Paul Barker, London; Angel Magick, by John Harle, BBC Promenade Concerts; Al Gran Sole carico d'amore, by Luigi Nono, Hamburg State Opera; Laborintus II, by Berio, Genova Opera House; Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, by Helmut Lachenmann, Stuttgart Staatstheater and Wien Modern.
Highlights from her recent concert appearances include Debussy’s Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Křenek’s Die Nachtigall, London Symphony Orchestra, both conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas; Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi, Austrian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Michael Gielen; Webern’s Cantatas 1 & 2, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez; Varèse’s Offrandes, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, What Next, an opera by Elliott Carter, with Hilversum Radio Orchestra, conducted by Peter Eötvös and Eshi by Akira Nishimura, with Musikfabrik in Berlin
Sarah has worked with many leading conductors including Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Ingo Metzmacher, Riccardo Chailly, Michael Tilson Thomas and Kent Nagano. She sings regularly with Asko Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, London Sinfonietta, Endymion Ensemble and the Michael Nyman Band.
Sarah is also an experienced recitalist in both the classical and contemporary repertoire and has a particular interest in and affection for English Song. She also has a duo partnership with double bass player Corrado Canonici and is a member of the virtuoso trio Carnyx and Co.
Sarah’s recordings include a series of CDs of A Century of English Song, with pianist Malcolm Martineau, for SOMM Recordings; When the Heart is Young – songs by Franz Lehár, with pianist Andrew Ball, for Beulah; Canti di Vita e d’amore by Luigi Nono, with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher; Michael Nyman’s opera The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat, and The Essential Michael Nyman Band, O Domina Nostra by Górecki, with Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ, and Arvo Pärt’s Miserere, with the Hilliard Ensemble, both on ECM Records; Ligeti’s Aventures et Nouvelles Aventures with the Schönberg Ensemble, for Teldec; A Roaring Flame, with Corrado Canonici on NMC and the world première of Alistair Hinton’s epic String Quintet with soprano, for Altarus Records. The Songs of Joseph Marx with Jonathan Powell, piano, have recently been released, also for Altarus. Another recent release includes Baalkah, for soprano and string quartet by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano.
Recent engagements included the world première of Hildegard, a new opera by James Wood and a recital of songs by Rachmaninoff, Marx, Fauré and Sibelius in the Holywell Music Rooms, Oxford with Jonathan Powell.