Sara Nealley, soprano, is a native of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, USA. She completed her undergraduate studies in Vocal performance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she studied with Jan Opalach. It was in her final year there that she discovered an enjoyment of working with living composers. In concert, she performed David Liptak’s “Folgore’s Months” with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and in the World Premiere of Lori Laitman’s “Are Women People?” for Eastman’s Anniversary Celebration of Susan B. Anthony. On the operatic stage, she was privileged to work with Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer on a World Premiere of the revised edition of their Holocaust Memorial work, Out of Darkness.
Sara continued her vocal studies in the Opera School at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, where she studied with Wilma MacDougall. Her notable roles included La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, First Witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Lucia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. She was also a finalist in both the Elgar-Spedding Memorial Lieder Competition and in the Ye Cronies Opera Competition. Outside of the Conservatoire, Sara performed Violetta in English in Fife Opera’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata in the Fall of 2019.
In December 2021, Sara completed her additional studies at the Wales International Academy of Voice, under the combined tutelage of Dennis O’Neill, Ryland Davies, and Linda Kitchen. In the summer of 2022, she returned to the States to sing Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Mrs. Segstrom in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music with Opera in the Ozarks.
Throughout 2022, Sara worked with Linda Kitchen to develop her own one-woman operatic performance piece, entitled Via-Letter, which explores the singer’s emotional history and reclamation through her correspondence. She premiered this piece in October of 2022 at the Acapela Studio in Cardiff.
Sara is excited to be returning to Violetta this summer with The Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival.