Sarah Wolfson

Lyric Soprano Sarah Wolfson demonstrates a remarkable ability to communicate with an audience, whether in recital or on the operatic stage. The New York Times called her “a keenly intelligent artist…[she sings] with luminous sound and impressively focused high notes.  The 2022 season finds Ms. Wolfson premiering the role of Jeannie in Victory Hall Opera’s production of Fat Pig by Matt Boehler and Miriam Gordon Stewart based on the award winning Neil LaBute play of the same name.  Additionally, she continues to focus on her passion for teaching young singers at both William Paterson University and Hofstra University. 

In recent seasons she was the soprano soloist for Handel’s Messiah (The National Chorale at Avery Fischer Hall), Poulenc Gloria (DuPage Symphony in Naperville, IL), Beethoven 9th and Brahms Requiem (Symphony of Northwest Arkansas), Fauré Requiem (Bangor Symphony Orchestra), Bach B Minor Mass (American Symphony Orchestra), New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), Sarasota Orchestra, and American Composers Orchestra. As a member of the ground-breaking Victory Hall Opera Company she recently appeared in the role of Zirphile in the American Premiere of Sympathy by Rameau. Additionally, Ms. Wolfson made a triumphal European debut performing in the world premiere of Jetzt by Mathis Nitchke, and singing Rose in Elliott Carter's What Next? at Opéra de Montpellier in Montpellier, FR. She was hailed by ResMusica: "[As Rose] the American soprano Sarah Wolfson prevails by far, her performance possessing the exuberance, the color, and the sensuality required for the part."

Ms. Wolfson has received numerous awards including winning the Juilliard Vocal Arts Alice Tully Hall Debut Competition, Vocal Arts DC Discovery Series Competition, and Concert Artists Guild Competition (1st Place Prize - Victor and Sono Elmaleh Award). In 2011 she was recognized by Symphony Magazine as an Emerging Artist. In past seasons Ms. Wolfson has travelled the country presenting a number of recitals and concerts. She has performed in Alice Tully Hall, Weill and Zankel Halls at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Strathmore Hall, Café Sabarsky at The Neue Galerie. She has sung with Abiquiu Chamber Music Festival, The Ravinia Festival, Chautauqua Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, Cincinnati Chamber Symphony, Bowdoin Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and Little Rock Chamber Music Society where the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote that she “swept the audience away… as good an actress as she is a singer, she got her message across”.

She has sung with various opera companies including The Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Aspen Opera Theater, Opera North, Gotham Chamber Opera, Kentucky Opera, Brevard Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA. Roles include Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice, Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Susanna and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Rose in Street Scene, Anne in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Sidonie/Lucinde in Gluck’s Armide, Crobyle in Thais, Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone, Jenny Reefer in The Mother of Us All, Micaela in La Tragédie de Carmen, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Celia in Musto's Volpone, and Rose in Carter's What Next?.

An avid performer of new music, Ms. Wolfson has sung world premiers by such noted composers as Jake Heggie, Paul Moravec, Jeremy Gill, Paola Prestini, Carl Bettendorf, John Dawe, Michael Brown, Ricahard Wilson, and John Musto. Ms. Wolfson performed the French premiere of Rose in Elliott Carter's What Next?. She created the role of Celia in the world premiere of John Musto’s Volpone, a comic opera based on the 16th-century Ben Johnson satirical play of the same title, commissioned and presented by the Wolf Trap Opera Company. Making her Off-Broadway debut, Ms. Wolfson premiered the role of Jane/Aeola in The New Group’s world premiere production of Wallace and Allen Shawn’s play/opera, The Music Teacher. She also recorded the opera for Bridge Records. She has performed music by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Caroline Shaw with Longleash Ensemble, and has performed in concert both the Berio Sequenza III, and Berio Folk Songs with the critically acclaimed Axiom Ensemble conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky.

Ms. Wolfson is a graduate of the Juilliard School (BM and MM) where she received the William Schuman Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music, the highest award given to a graduate student. She was featured on the PBS American Masters documentary The Juilliard Experience. As a recipient of a Lucrezia Bori Grant for study abroad from Juilliard, Ms. Wolfson was able to study in Salzburg, Austria, where she performed recitals at The Sacellum and Schloss Leopoldskron. She has participated in the Steans Institute for Young Artists at The Ravinia Festival, Wolf Trap Young Artist Program, and Florida Grand Opera Young Artists Program