Artists biographies
Sarah Connolly

Born in County Durham, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow.

In opera, her recent appearances have included Purcell’s Dido at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; at La Scala, Milan and at La Monnaie, Brussels; the title role in "Giulio Cesare" and Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at the Glyndebourne Festival; Gluck’s Orfeo and the title role in "The Rape of Lucretia" at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich and Nerone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona and at the Maggio Musicale in Florence. She has also been invited to Opera North; Welsh National Opera; Scottish Opera and Paris Opera. In the U.S. she has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, for New York City Opera and in San Francisco.

A favourite at the English National Opera, her roles there have included Octavian; Handel's Agrippina, Xerxes, Ariodante and Ruggiero (Alcina); the title role in "The Rape of Lucretia"; Ottavia (L'Incoronazione di Poppea); Dido (Dido and Aeneas / The Trojans); Romeo, Susie (The Silver Tassie) and Sesto (La clemenza di Tito).
Her future engagements include her debut at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and returns to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Paris Opera, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Glyndebourne Festival, to the ENO and to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

She has appeared in recital in London and New York and her many concert engagements include appearances at the Salzburg Festival, Tanglewood Festival, BBC Proms, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with many of the world’s great orchestras.

A prolific recording artist, her many discs include Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas" with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" with L’Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Herreweghe (winner of an Edison Award) as well as many further discs for all great classical labels.
She was made CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List.