Sara LeMesh, soprano

“Plush” soprano Sara LeMesh (New York Times), “known in the world of classical and contemporary opera for lush tone, exceptional high-register clarity, dramatic breadth, and fearless command in roles offering unpredictable vulnerability, is in demand” (San Francisco Classical Voice). She resides in her hometown of San Francisco where she impresses audiences with a “strikingly expressive soprano of feathery beauty and penetrating effect” (OperaChaser). 

LeMesh has performed at prestigious venues and festivals throughout the United States and Europe, including The Morgan Library & Museum, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, American Bach Soloists, and International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum Salzburg where she studied with Italian bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi.           

Hailed as a “singing machine” (SF Civic Center Blog), LeMesh is an avid chamber musician and advocate of contemporary music. She performs in a duo called Chordless with pianist Allegra Chapman and as a regularly featured soloist in Bard Music West, Chapman’s groundbreaking contemporary music festival. The duo will premiere their first commissioned song cycle by composer Benjamin Pesetsky in 2020. 

Her most recent triumph on the operatic stage occurred at West Edge Opera in August 2019 where she portrayed Bess McNeil in the West Coast premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s award-winning opera, Breaking The Waves. LeMesh’s interpretation was praised as a “powerhouse performance of vocal majesty and expressive translucency” (San Francisco Chronicle). The soprano’s “extraordinary realization of Bess” featured “a woman of passion and self-doubt, flaws, and aspirations” with “singing [which] soars and swoons” (San Francisco Classical Voice). 

LeMesh received her Master of Music degree from the Bard College-Conservatory of Music where she coached with soprano Dawn Upshaw. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Rice University where she studied with mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer.

Learn more at www.saralemesh.com.