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Sarah Nelson Craft
Mezzo-soprano
www.sarahnelsoncraft.com • Scott Levine Management • [email protected] • 917.607.1683
In opera, oratorio, and art song ranging from the Baroque to contemporary works, Sarah Nelson Craft is a
versatile performer at home on stages throughout the world today. Last season she made her mainstage
debut with the Caramoor Festival as Ninetta in Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes and in several concerts there
for which she was noted as a “young singer to watch out for” (taminophile.com). Her recent performance
as Giunone in Handel’s Agrippina with New York City’s operamission drew critical acclaim: her
“imposing mezzo scored in Giunone’s lone aria” (Opera magazine) and she “knocked this exciting aria
out of the park” (parterre.com). In the title role of La Cenerentola, performed with Fargo-Moorhead
Opera, she was praised for “her warm mezzo-soprano [that] flutters so effortlessly” (The Forum of FargoMoorhead). 2012 marked her Lincoln Center debut at Avery Fisher Hall as the alto soloist in both Bach’s
Mass in B minor and Handel’s Messiah with the National Chorale. She will return to Lincoln Center in
2015 to be the alto soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the American Classical Orchestra at Alice
Tully Hall. She made her international debut in China at the Macau International Music Festival as
Second Woman in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Other notable performances have included Mahler’s
Symphony No.2 with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Mahler’s Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
with Princeton Pro Musica, and an appearance in Matt Aucoin’s new mini-opera for NPR’s This
American Life live at BAM. She was recently invited by Marilyn Horne to participate in “The Song
Continues: Paris Residency” presented by Carnegie Hall at the Opéra Bastille in December.
Ms. Craft performs frequently with Con Vivo chamber ensemble and is a regular recitalist at Judson
Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. She has also performed as a soloist with the Dallas Opera
Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Amor Artis, and the St. Patrick’s
Cathedral Choir, among others. A devotee of new music, she has sung in many readings of new operas
with American Opera Projects.
Her opera roles have included Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Cherubino in
Le nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Annio in La clemenza di Tito, Hansel in Hansel and
Gretel, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Cousin Hebe in HMS Pinafore, and the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon. Her solo concert
performances have included Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, Magnificat, and Cantata BWV 82 “Ich habe
genug,” Respighi’s Il tramonto, Copland’s In the Beginning, Duruflé’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem,
Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and the world premiere of Jennifer Griffith’s
oratorio The Reed.
Ms. Craft has been a Young Artist with Bel Canto at Caramoor, Opera North, and Opera New Jersey. She
also trained at the Music Academy of the West, the Brevard Music Center, the Baroque Performance
Institute at Oberlin, and the OperaWorks program in Los Angeles, and received acting training from
soprano Lauren Flanigan and members of the SITI company.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Ms. Craft earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Italian and music from
Dartmouth College, graduating cum laude, with high honors in her major. She earned her Master’s
Degree in vocal performance from the University of North Texas College of Music. She has been a first
prize and audience choice award winner at the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions
and a semifinalist in the Opera Columbus Irma M. Cooper International Vocal Competition.