BIOGRAPHY

Sarah Castle was born in Wellington, New Zealand and studied at Victoria University, before moving to Manchester to study singing at the Royal Northern College of Music. She made her debut for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Tisbe LA CENERENTOLA and has subsequently appeared there as Dryad ARIADNE AUF NAXOS,  Page SALOME, Mademoiselle Dangeville ADRIANA LECOUVREUR, and as Siegrune DIE WALKÜRE, Flosshilde DAS RHEINGOLD and GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG  in Wagner's Ring Cycle, directed by Keith Warner. Most recently she sang there as Flora LA TRAVIATA.

Recent highlights include Portia in André Tchaikowsky's MERCHANT OF VENICE for Welsh National Opera, and at the ROH; Rabbi/Doctor/Hannah in Peter Eötvös' ANGELS IN AMERICA for New York City Opera; the title role Angelina LA CENERENTOLA for New Zealand Opera; the title role Marco in Tan Dun's MARCO POLO, Elektra in Manfred Trojahn's OREST, and Magdalene DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG, all  for the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam;   Emilia OTELLO for Opera Queensland; Portia in André Tchaikowsky's MERCHANT OF VENICE for the Grand Theatre, Warsaw; Nancy Tang NIXON IN CHINA for San Diego Opera; Fox THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN for Welsh National Opera and Israeli Opera. For Israeli Opera she also sang Nerone L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA, Sesto GIULIO CESARE and Melibea IL VIAGGIO A REIMS. She recently sang Lucretia RAPE OF LUCRETIA with the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra.

Her US debut was for San Francisco Opera as Oberto ALCINA, and she has also appeared as  Prince Orlovsky DIE FLEDERMAUS for the Opera Company of Philadelphia; Cherubino LE NOZZE  DI FIGARO for Seattle Opera, New Zealand Opera and San Diego; and returned to San Diego for Lola CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA, Stéphano ROMÉO ET JULIETTE and Siebel FAUST.She made her debut at the Staatsoper Stuttgart as Oberto ALCINA and as Wellgunde GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, and sang the roles of Flosshilde and Grimgerde at the 2004 Bayreuther Festspiele. Other Wagner performances are as Siegrune in Florence with Zubin Mehta; Flosshilde in Munich; PARSIFAL under Jeffrey Tate in Adelaide; and Flosshilde and Siegrune for Opera North. Other highlights are singing Ruggiero ALCINA and Hänsel HÄNSEL UND GRETEL for Opera Australia;  Nicklausse LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN  for the Teatro Real, Madrid and the Gran Teatro de Cordoba; Annio LA CLEMENZA DI TITO for the National Theatre, Prague;  Komponist ARIADNE AUF NAXOS and Andronico TAMERLANO  for the Spoleto Festival USA; Olga EUGENE ONEGIN at La Monnaie in Bruxelles; Helen of Troy KING PRIAM and Teseo ARIANNA IN CRETA, both for Nationale Reisopera; and the title roles of TESEO (Handel) for Klagenfurt Opera, Dido DIDO AND AENEAS  in Lausanne, and Carmen at the Hallenstadion Zurich. For Opera Holland Park she sang Beppe L'AMICO FRITZ.

Notable concerts include Waltraute DIE WALKÜRE with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Her BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall was as Siegrune in DIE WALKÜRE with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles, returning to sing (with the same conductor) a concert performance of ELEKTRA. Also at the Proms she has performed Mendelssohn's Lobgesang and PARSIFAL with the Hallé Orchestra; with them she has also appeared as Magdalene DIE MEISTERSINGER.

She sang in Mendelssohn Paulus with La Chapelle Royale under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe; Elijah with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and for the LPO conducted by Kurt Masur; Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with Gustavo Dudamel in Caracas; Spaces of Blank  by Michel van der AA in Amsterdam; and Mark Anthony Turnage's Twice Through the Heart with Psappha.

She has also made debuts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Dutch Radio Philharmonic conducted by Lothar Zagrosek singing Debussy La Damoiselle Elue and at the Edinburgh International Festival singing Kurt Weill songs with the San Francisco Ballet. Other concert appearances are as Idamante IDOMENEO in Moscow;  Page SALOME, Emilia OTELLO, and Mozart Requiem with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra; and FEUERSNOT and ANNA BOLENA (Smeton) at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Upcoming includes: Fricka DAS RHEINGOLD for Tianjin Symphony Orchestra; First Norn GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG with Hong Kong Philharmonic