Sarah Tynan

Soprano

Management

Helen Hogh
[email protected]

Fiona Wells
[email protected]

Groves Artists represents Sarah Tynan worldwide

Biography

Nominated by the Evening Standard as one of the most influential artists in UK music British soprano Sarah Tynan is well established as one of the most exciting and versatile singers of her generation. Equally comfortable in baroque, classical and contemporary music she is also increasingly in demand for her work in the bel canto repertoire and has recently had great successes with recent Rossini role debuts of Rosina and Fiorilla. She works regularly with many of the leading orchestras, opera companies and ensembles in the UK as well as in Europe and further afield.

In addition to Rosina / Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Fiorilla / Il Turco in Italia other recent engagements include the title role Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role in Partenope, the title role in The Merry Widow, Romilda / Xerxes, Euridice / Orpheus and Euridice and Euridice / Orphée by Glass all for English National Opera, Despina / Cosi fan tutte for Opera Holland Park, a staged production of Britten / Les Illuminations with the Aurora Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival, Pat Nixon / Nixon in China for the Royal Danish Opera and the Teatro Real, Madrid, Ginevra / Ariodante for the Bolshoi, Moscow,  The Governess / The Turn of the Screw for Opera North, Romilda with the Figure Ensemble at Opera Holland Park and the title role in Semele for the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston.

Previous operatic engagements have included Adina / Elixir of Love, Ilia / Idomeneo, Sophie / Der Rosenkavalier, Tytania / A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marzelline / Fidelio and Zerlina / Don Giovanni for English National Opera, Merab / Saul for Glyndebourne on Tour,  Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore at the Salzburg Festival, Susanna / Le nozze di Figaro for Cincinnati Opera and ENO, Ginevra  for Scottish Opera, Cleopatra / Giulio Cesare and Carrie Pipperidge / Carousel for Opera North,  Iris / Semele for La Monnaie, Brussels, Pretty Polly in Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy at Casa de Musica, Dalinda / Ariodante at Opera de Oviedo an ENO and Monique in Elizabeth Maconchy’s The Sofa for Independent Opera. Sarah has performed in three world premieres – Dai Fujikura / Solaris at Théâtre des Champs- Élysées, Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Lausanne, Sharon Disney in Philip Glass / The Perfect American at Teatro Real and ENO and Megan in James MacMillan’s The Sacrifice for WNO, and was recently awarded the Welsh Theatre Award for Best Female in an Opera Production for her portrayal of Manon Lescaut in Henze’s Boulevard Solitude at Welsh National Opera.

Equally in demand on the concert platform Sarah has a wide concert repertoire and works regularly with all of the BBC orchestras as well as many of the major UK and European orchestras. She has performed Brahms’ Requiem under Sir Jeffery Tate at the , Maggio Musicale as well as with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Eschenbach, Indiana Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Other recent engagements have included Carmina Burana with the Cincinnati Symphony under Langrée, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Ryan Wigglesworth’s Augenlieder with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Haydn Creation with the London Symphony Orchestra under Gardner, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and a staged version with Garsington and Rambert, Bach Matthew Passion with the Bach choir, Poulenc Stabat Mater with Ulster Orchestra under Van Steen, Dallapiccola’s Partita with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Noseda at the BBC Proms, Tippett A Child of Our Time and Unsuk Chin’s Kala with the BBC Symphony, Mahler Symphony No.8 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Philharmonia, Handel’s Messiah with the Gabrieli Consort,  Bournemouth Symphony, The Early Opera Company, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Halle, Toch’s Die Chinesische Flöte with the Continuum Ensemble, Handel Solomon with Gabrieli Consort and Campra Le Carnival de Venise with Le Concert Spirituel.  Sarah has also has performed in concert versions of Valencienne / The Merry Widow with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Woglinde / Das Rheingold with the Halle Orchestra and Ännchen / Der Freischütz with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, both under Sir Mark Elder.

Recent and future concert highlights include Vaughan Williams Symphony No 7 with the Philharmonia under John Wilson, Beethoven Symphony No 9 at the Maggio Musicale under Fabio Luisi, Messiah with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and at the Royal Albert Hall,  the Creation with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in the opening concert of the Edinburgh Festival as well as concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under David Parry and the Seasons with the Gabrieli Consort.

Recordings include Carmina Burana with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Graf and The Creation with Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society.

Sarah lives in London with her husband, baritone Leigh Melrose, their son and daughter and two cats.

This biography is for website use only. For a full and updated biography, please email [email protected]

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Reviews

  • The Magic Flute, English National Opera

    Sarah Tynan led an excellent cast as a believable, dramatically alert Pamina, her elegant soprano cutting through orchestral textures like a switchblade.

    Clive Paget The Guardian / March 2024
  • The Magic Flute, English National Opera

    Sarah Tynan, formerly an ENO Harewood Artist on the company’s young artist development programme, is a bold, touching Pamina. Her voice inhabits the music’s emotional content ideally, notably in her mesmerising aria in the second act.

    Jessica Duchan The Independent / March 2024
  • The Magic Flute, English National Opera

    But here the emotional moments hit their mark, particularly when Sarah Tynan’s Pamina sings “Now my joy has gone for ever” with such poise and profound beauty

    Rebecca Franks The Times / March 2024
  • Nixon in China / Teatro Real

    Sarah Tynan’s soprano was sweet and appealing, while still portraying her character’s inner steel.

    David Karlin Bachtrack, April 2023
  • Nixon in China / Teatro Real

    Soprano Sarah Tynan impressed as Pat Nixon, particularly in her great scene that opens Act II.

    José Irurzun Seen and Heard International, April 2023
  • Turn of the Screw / Opera North

    On stage for almost the entire running time, Sarah Tynan is an excellent Governess, her soprano hinting at a whole wave of vulnerability.

    John Murphy The Stage
  • Lucia di Lammermoor / ENO

    It’s left to Tynan, though, to give the show its moments of grace and delicacy. Singing her first Lucia, she deploys a light, silky tone with beautiful flexibility, and there’s an ethereal transcendence about the way she delivers the mad scene, vocally and visually. In a show that often teeters on the brink of gothic-horror parody, hers is a performance to touch the heart

    Richard Morrison The Times
  • Lucia di Lammermoor / ENO

    Tackling the title role for the first time, Tynan sings with a silvery purity of tone and an exquisite sense of line. Her coloratura is admirably liquid, yet always placed at the service of the drama. She can be thrillingly accurate in her upper registers, though in the Mad Scene she replaces the traditional showpiece cadenza with something altogether more thoughtful and darkly expressive.

    Tim Ashley The Guardian
  • Orpheus and Eurydice

    Sarah Tynan’s Eurydice burned with credible human emotions which were delivered with luminosity and strength

    Claire Seymour Opera Today
  • The Merry Widow

    A lovely performance by Sarah Tynan in the title-role. The one character who isn’t costumed circa 1910, she presents instead a 1940s blonde bombshell, suggesting just the right edge of gold-digger cynicism and peasant shrewdness. But not too sharp an edge: her singing touches a fine note of melancholy in “Vilja” and “Lippen schweigen”, both beautifully phrased and enunciated.

    Rupert Christiansen The Telegraph
  • Orfee

    Sarah Tynan’s Eurydice manged to walk the thin line between being simple and sounding anything but. The voice never lacked colour or tonal beauty

    Marc Bridle Opera Today

News

  • Sarah Tynan appointed as Head of Vocal Arts at Guildhall
    30.04.24

    Sarah Tynan appointed as Head of Vocal Arts at Guildhall

  • Sarah Tynan to sing two title roles at ENO in 2018/19
    01.05.18

    Sarah Tynan to sing two title roles at ENO in 2018/19

  • Groves Artists announce the signing of leading British soprano, Sarah Tynan
    08.11.17

    Groves Artists announce the signing of leading British soprano, Sarah Tynan