Sarah Coburn returns to Cincinnati Opera in 2008 as Lucia Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucie de Lammermoor). Coburn made her Cincinnati Opera debut in 2006 as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman and Oscar in A Masked Ball.
Praised as "blissfully sublime" by Opera News, Sarah Coburn is captivating audiences with her "precision placement, mercury speed, and a gorgeous liquid gold tone, gilded by a thrilling top and bottom register" (The Globe and Mail). Following her performances as Lucie de Lammermoor at Glimmerglass Opera, the New York Observer noted "she turns out to have qualities that have made legends out of so many of her predecessors, from Adelina Patti to Maria Callas: stage charisma, a thrilling upper register and, crucially, a fearlessness about abandoning herself to opera's most abandoned heroine ... this is a palpably exciting voice ... Ms. Coburn is a budding prima donna of exceptional promise."
Sarah Coburn's 2007-08 season includes the role of Asteria in Tamerlano with Washington National Opera, the title role of Lakmé with Tulsa Opera and the role of Princess Yue-yang in the revival of The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera. She returns to Seattle Symphony as soloist in Bach's Mass in B Minor, to Washington Concert Opera as Elvira in I puritani, to Cincinnati Opera in the title role of Lucie de Lammermoor, and to Glimmerglass Opera in the summer of 2008 to sing Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
In the 2006-07 season, Ms. Coburn sang the role of Princess Yue-yang in the world premiere of Tan Dun's The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera, created the role of Kitty in the world premiere of Anna Karenina at Florida Grand Opera, and then performed it with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She sang the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Utah Opera, the title role in Linda di Chamounix at the Caramoor Festival, and the roles of Euridice and Genio in Haydn's L'amina del filosofo with Glimmerglass Opera.
Recent season highlights include Adele in Die Fledermaus with Seattle Opera, Amenaide in Tancredi with Washington Concert Opera, Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann and Oscar in Un ballo in maschera with Cincinnati Opera, Angelo in La resurrezione and Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Chicago Opera Theater, Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites with New York City Opera, Oscar with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the title role in Lucie de Lammermoor with Glimmerglass Opera. Other opera credits include the title role of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience as well as Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Glimmerglass Opera, Adina in L'elisir d'amore with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Gilda in Rigoletto with Indianapolis Opera, Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice at the Caramoor Festival, Adele in Die Fledermaus at Michigan Opera Theater, and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Wolf Trap Opera Company. Ms. Coburn has sung Norina in Don Pasquale, Sandrina in La finta giardiniera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Oscar in Un ballo in maschera with Florida Grand Opera.
On the concert stage, Ms. Coburn has sung Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the Seattle Symphony; Carmina Burana with the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Haddonfield Symphony at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and the Dallas Wind Symphony.
Sarah Coburn is a winner of the 2004 George London Foundation Awards, a 2004 recipient of a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, a 2004 Jensen Foundation Award Winner, a 2003 Liederkranz Foundation Award Winner, a 2002 Opera Index Career Grant recipient, and was a National Grand Finalist in the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She received a Master of Music degree from Oklahoma City University and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Oklahoma State University.
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