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.
A graduate of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program, Coburn returned to the company 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. Upcoming, she joins the North Carolina Symphony and music director Carlos Miguel Prieto for selections from Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Handel's Messiah.
During the 2022-2023, she returned to one of her signature roles, joining New York City Opera as the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor for a performance in Bryant Park. 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.
Ms. Coburn created the role of Kitty in Anna Karenina for Florida Grand Opera, with further performances at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. 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 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, and Cincinnati 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; Euridice in L’anima del filosofo with the Handel & Haydn Society and Glimmerglass 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; Juliette in Romeo et Juliette with Tulsa Opera; Giulietta in I capuletti e i Montecchi and the title role in Patience with Glimmerglass Opera; Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier with Cincinnati Opera; 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.
Ms. Coburn has appeared in concert with Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic at the Tivoli Festival, and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra; and Handel & Haydn Society as soloist for Elijah and Messiah. She has also sung Messiah with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra; Carmina Burana with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Dallas Wind Symphony; and has joined the Seattle Symphony for Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Bach’s Mass in B Minor. She has also appeared in concert with Bryn Terfel with Florida Grand Opera, as well as in a duo-recital for the United States Supreme Court; in recital with Lawrence Brownlee for the Vocal Arts Society, with Los Angeles Opera and the Mark Morris Dance Group in Handel’s “L’allegro, il penseroso, ed il moderato” and in recital at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
