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The English soprano, Sarah Leonard, studied at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London; then spent spent five years in the BBC Singers and the Endymion Ensemble, before embarking on a solo career.
Sarah Leonard is one of Britain’s most respected and versatile sopranos. She developed a wide repertoire and had a keen interest in contemporary classical music. This led to appearances all over the world in major concert halls, opera houses and music festivals singing many works by leading composers including Birtwistle, Lachenmann, György Ligeti, Boilez, Dusapin, Jonathan Harvey, Joe Cutler, Michael Nyman and John Harle.
In 1988 Sarah Leonard performed the role of Drusilla in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea under Richard Hickox on Virgin - one of her few recordings of repertoire works. She made her debut at La Scala, Milan, in 1989 in the premiere of Dr Faustus by Giacomo Manzoni. Other career highlights include Al Gran sole Carico d’Amore by Luigi Nono at Hamburg State Opera and the premiere of Helmut Lachenmann's Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelholzern in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Paris and Vienna (1997), a work she later recorded on Kairos. She has appeared in chamber operas by Erika Fox and Bennett Hogg for the Royal Opera's Garden Venture. She has given many staged performances of Ligeti's Aventures et Nouvelles Aventures with the Ensemble Recherche, and during the 1994-1995 season sang thirty performances of To be Sung, a new opera by the young French composer Pascal Dusapin, to great acclaim in France and Germany. She has sung with several chamber ensembles singing many Music Theatre and concert pieces. She toured extensively with The Hilliard Ensemble, singing and recording the music of Arvo Pärt, and sang with The Michael Nyman Band for over fifteen years. During the early 1980's, she was also a member of the Monteverdi Choir (Director: John Eliot Gardiner). She has also appeared with the Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
Her 35 plus CD recordings include a recital series of English Song with the pianist Malcolm Martineau "A Century of English Song," which was released in several volumes on the Somm label. She has also recorded works by Varèse with Riccardo Chailly and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, György Ligeti's Aventures, Nouvelle Aventures with the Schoenberg Ensemble and a new song cycle by Joe Cutler, In Praise of Dreams, with Stephen Gutman, piano. She has recorded several CD’s with composer John Harle including Silencium, the titles music of the long running BBC Series Silent Witness. Her other recordings include music of Luigi Nono, Kurt Weill, and Howard Skempton She has given many song recitals throughout the UK, including several in the BMIC’s Cutting Edge series, many at the Poole Lighthouse Centre for the Arts, and for the last ten years at Benslow Music’s annual Summer Festival with Stephen Gutman.
Sarah Leonard now channels her vast experience into teaching singing, also giving many workshop’s and Masterclasses. In 2013 Hull University awarded Sarah Leonard a Degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa for her services to music. In 2015 she was elected the Chairman of the Association of English Singers and Speakers. |
