A native of Oklahoma, soprano Sarah Coburn has performed on many of the world’s great stages, including The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the Wiener Staatsoper, and Welsh National Opera. She has received awards from the George London Foundation, The Richard Tucker Foundation, The Jensen Foundation, The Liederkranz Foundation, Opera Index, and was a National Grand Finalist in the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
This season, she sings Handel’s Messiah at the United States Naval Academy, and performs and records Carlisle Floyd’s Flower and Hawk, a monodrama about Eleanor of Aquitaine, with Odyssey Opera. Coburn’s recent engagements include selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah with the North Carolina Symphony and music director Carlos Miguel Prieto, and a masterclass and recital at the University of Wyoming. She returned to Seattle Opera in May 2024 as a soloist for their 60th Anniversary Gala. In the summer following, she reprised the role of Adina in L’elisir d’amore with Charlottesville Opera. Her critically acclaimed recording of Bellini’s I Puritani, featuring tenor Lawrence Brownlee and the Kaunas City Symphony and Kaunas State Choir, was released in 2021 on Delos. She also performed Princess Yue-Yang opposite Placido Domingo in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor with The Metropolitan Opera.
Other operatic highlights include Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Opera San Antonio; the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Washington National Opera, Tulsa Opera, Utah Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and with Cincinnati Opera and Glimmerglass Opera for the French version of the same opera; Gilda in Rigoletto with Welsh National Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Los Angeles Opera, Portland Opera, Arizona Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Nashville Opera, and Tulsa Opera; Marie in La fille du regiment with Seattle Opera, Opera Carolina, and Tulsa Opera; Asteria in Tamerlano with Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera; Elvira in I Puritani with Boston Lyric Opera, Washington Concert Opera, and the Tivoli Festival; Oscar in Un ballo in Maschera with Opera Company of Philadelphia, Florida Grand Opera and Cincinnati Opera; Sister Constance in Les dialogue des Carmelité with Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem serai with Atlanta Opera; Adele in Le comte Ory and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with Seattle Opera; Amina in La sonnambula with Wiener Staatsoper; Adina in L’elisir d’amore with Washington National Opera; Adele in Die Fledermaus with Seattle Opera and Michigan Opera Theater; Vittoria in Tuttie in Maschera with Wexford Festival Opera; the title role in Manon with Opera Santa Barbara; Norina in Don Pasquale, Sandrina in La finta giardiniera, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Florida Grand Opera; and Linda di Chamounix with Caramoor Festival.
