Sara LeMesh

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 returns 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. The rising soprano’s 2023-24 season has 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. Later this summer, she sings a solo recital in Procida, Italy as part of her prize for taking first place in the Mimas Music Festival Competition, and she will appear as a Vocal Fellow at the Yellow Barn summer chamber music festival in Putney, Vermont.

Ms. LeMesh joins Florentine Opera for the 2024-25 season as a Resident Artist, where she will perform the roles of Galatea in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Frasquita in Carmen, and Luigia in Donizetti’s Viva la mamma! 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 will be 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. 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 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.