Sara duchovnay

Soprano


American soprano Sara Duchovnay has been hailed by The San Francisco Examiner as “clarion voiced” and OperaWire described her as “dynamic and expressive”, further adding that she “sang with warmth and luster” and “moved with elan, thus matching her vocal vibrancy”. Of her 2019 role debut as Nedda in Pagliacci with Opera Roanoke, the Roanoke Times praised her “nuanced portrait of an unhappy woman” and “her high notes [which] rang out with ease at the swelling climaxes in both her first act aria and in her love duet with Silvio.”

Notable engagements during the 2022/2023 season included Sara's debut with the Grand Teton Music Festival, where she covered the role of Cio-Cio San and sang the role of Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles. She also made her Swiss debut with Musikkollegium Winterthur, singing Alma Mahler's Fünf Lieder with the Musikkollegium Winterthur Orchestra under the baton of Kalena Bovell. Additionally, she served as Artist in Residence for the Görlitz/Zgorzelec Jewish Remembrance Week, performing concerts in Germany and Poland. As the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Sara was honored to add her voice and her soul to this very special project.

During recent seasons, Sara has appeared as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Delaware, and Die erste Dienerin in Die ägyptische Helena with Odyssey Opera, and as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Madison Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John DeMain. Additional roles in Sara’s repertoire include Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Alcina (Alcina), Musetta (La bohème), and Liù (Turandot). Before transitioning into lyric repertoire, earlier credits included Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Opera Santa Barbara; Nanetta in Falstaff and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire with Opera San Jose; Jemmy in Guillaume Tell and Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Southern Illinois Music Festival; Zerbinetta and Naïde in Ariadne auf Naxos with Pacific Opera Project and Festival Opera, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Pacific Opera Project.

A sought after interpreter of contemporary opera, Sara originated the role of Dorothea in Allen Shearer and Claudia Stevens’ opera Middlemarch in Spring with Composers Inc., and also reprised the role of Dorothea with Charlottesville Opera. Shearer and Stevens once again called upon Sara to originate the role of Helen in the world premiere of their opera, Howard's End, America in 2019 with Earplay Ensemble. Sara has also performed the roles of Soprano 1 in Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg’s Hydrogen Jukebox with West Edge Opera, Lauretta in Michael Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost with Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera, and Della in David Conte’s Gift of the Magi with Hidden Valley Opera Ensemble.

Sara resides in Berlin, Germany. She is a student of soprano Adina Nitescu and holds a Bachelor of Music from The Hartt School of Music and a Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.