Born in County Durham, the mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music and continued her studies with Gerald Martin Moore.
She made her United States début in the 1999/2000 season in the title rôle of Ariodante. This was followed in the 2000/2001 season by her début at the San Francisco Opera singing both Ino and Juno in Semele. She has since returned to the NYCO as Romeo in I Capuleti ed i Montecchi and in the title rôle of Xerxes. In 2005 she made an acclaimed Metropolitan Opera début as Annio in La clemenza di Tito and her Carnegie Hall recital début in the Weill Hall. Opera engagements in Europe have included Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and her débuts at the Paris Opéra as Sesto in Giulio Cesare; at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées as Juno and at the Munich Festival in the title rôle of The Rape of Lucretia. At English National Opera her rôles include Handel’s Xerxes and Ariodante, Ruggiero in Alcina, Susie in The Silver Tassie, Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Dido in Dido and Aeneas and in The Trojans, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, and the title rôle in The Rape of Lucretia, which was televised by the BBC.
She has appeared at Glyndebourne and at La Scala, Milan. Her concert engagements include appearances at the Salzburg Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with distinguished conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, Edo de Waart, Philippe Herreweghe and Daniel Harding. She is a regular guest artist at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and was invited to take part in the opening festival of Carnegie’s new Zankel Hall in New York.
Sarah Connolly is committed to promoting new music, and her world première performances include Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Twice through the heart with the Schoenberg Ensemble conducted by Oliver Knussen; Jonathan Harvey’s Songs of Li Po at the Aldeburgh Festival and Sir John Tavener’s Tribute to Cavafy at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham. She has collaborated in a number of important recordings in repertoire ranging from Bach to Schoenberg and Vaughan Williams.