soprano

American soprano Sara Heaton, noted for her “gleaming lyricism” by Opera News Online and her “sweet, pure soprano” by the Chicago Tribune, is gaining recognition as a sensitive performer of both opera standards and new works. This season, Sara won first prize in the Marie Kraja international singing competition in Albania. She had her American Opera Projects debut in Numinous City by Pete Wyer, and sang her first Nedda in Pagliacci with Symphony Pro Musica. Sara returned to Chicago Opera Theater to sing Lidochka in Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cheryomushki, and this summer covers Leila in The Pearl Fishers as a second-year Apprentice Artist with The Santa Fe Opera.

Sara had her professional debut as Despina in Così fan tutte with Boston Baroque. She has sung with Boston Lyric Opera, the American Repertory Theater, Opera Boston, Central City Opera, Boston Midsummer Opera, Opera Providence, Opera North, and the New Philharmonia Orchestra. In the 2010-2011 season, Sara received critical acclaim for her performance of Miranda in the US premiere of Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, praised for her “daunting power and agility in the stratospheric notes of her final scene,” and was singled out as giving “the finest performance of the evening.” With Santa Fe Opera, she was hailed “a standout” for her performance of Gilda in the apprentice scenes program.

Sara has received the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera competition, and a finalist in the Giulio Gari Competition. She won 2nd place in the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition, received an Encouragement Grant from the Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges, and was a semi-finalist in the Competizione dell’Opera in Germany. She holds a Masters of Music degree from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Performances

The Midsummer Marriage
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | November 10, 2012
Concert Details

News and Press

[Concert Review] Michael Tippett's Midsummer madness

The first American production of any of Michael Tippett's five operas was Sarah Caldwell's The Ice Break for the Opera Company of Boston in 1979. In 1991, BU students did The Knot Garden. This year, Opera Boston scheduled the first Boston production of The Midsummer Marriage, Tippett's first opera (completed in 1952, after six years of work). But Opera Boston folded.

The Boston Phoenix Full review
[Concert Review] A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of Opera Boston

Boston opera buffs were dealt a hard blow last December when Opera Boston, a company known for innovative productions of less familiar repertory, announced it was shutting down amid a financial and managerial crisis. But the company’s ambitious plans were not entirely sent to the scrap heap of operatic history: Sir Michael Tippett’s opera, The Midsummer Marriage – planned as the centerpiece of the company’s 2012 season – was reconceived as a concert production Saturday at Jordan Hall by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).

WQXR Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP proceeds with Tippett's 'Midsummer Marriage'

Before a note was played, Saturday night’s Boston Modern Orchestra Project performance of Michael Tippett’s first mature opera, “The Midsummer Marriage,” generated more good will and broader public curiosity than the average season-opener. That’s because the now-defunct Opera Boston had this rarely spotted Tippett opera on its agenda long before the company abruptly folded last December.

The Boston Globe Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP gives worthy advocacy to Tippett's unwieldy "Midsummer Marriage'

One door closes, another opens. With the demise of the ambitious company Opera Boston last year, director Gil Rose lost a chance to explore some of the gems in the outermost reaches of the stage repertory.

Fear not. Rose simply brought one such rarity, Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage—slated last season for Opera Boston but left unperformed—to his other adventurous ensemble, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. BMOP performed a semi-staged version of the mid-20th century opera Saturday evening at Jordan Hall.

Boston Classical Review Full review