Biography
Hailed by The New York Times as “bright, active, and fastidiously musical,” and by Opera News as having “a golden sound,” Sarah Jane McMahon is recognized for her “beautiful vocal sophistication” and “sparkling stage presence.” Recently, Sarah Jane sang a Gala concert opposite Placido Domingo on his newly dedicated stage in New Orleans, and made her debut at the Wiener Konzert Haus and Bremen’s Die Glocke in their concert productions of Candide. A frequent guest artist at New York City Opera, she opened their 2008 spring season in Purcell’s King Arthur, and was lauded for her “silvery-voiced soprano” and “real star presence.” In 2007, she performed Mabel in a new production of The Pirates of Penzance with the same company and was described by The New York Times as “the most polished and flexible singer in the cast” and “a deft comic actress.” Sarah Jane made her debut with the New York City Opera as Galatea in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, for which she received their coveted Kolozsvar Award.
Selected by Maestro Placido Domingo to join the Los Angeles Opera, she sang with the celebrated tenor as the Fifth Flower Maiden in Parsifal. Other roles with that company include Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos and The Milliner in Der Rosenkavalier. Sarah Jane also has performed with Opera Grand Rapids as Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Maria in West Side Story and Micaela in Carmen, with the Washington Concert Opera as Dorinda in Handel’s Orlando, Virginia Opera as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Central City Opera as Maria in West Side Story, Kathie in The Student Prince, Anne in A Little Night Music, and Lucia in Rape of Lucretia, with Chautauqua Opera as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Opera Company of North Carolina and Mississippi Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto, Piedmont Opera as Clara in The Light in the Piazza, Opera Theater of Connecticut as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, and with Des Moines Metro Opera as Abigail Williams in The Crucible. Her roles with the New Orleans Opera include Micaela in Carmen, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Musetta in La Bohème, Monica in The Medium, and Maria in West Side Story. Sarah Jane also performed Donna Clara, the Infanta, in Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg at Bard SummerScape Festival for which Opera News wrote: “Sarah Jane McMahon laughed and danced as the glamorous Infanta, making a golden sound with an alluring light vibrato that evoked the young Pilar Lorengar.”
A summa cum laude graduate of Loyola University, New Orleans, and Yale University, recent concert appearances have included Carmina Burana at Avery Fisher Hall, the Rutter Requiem at Carnegie Hall, Bravissimo! with the Canadian Opera Orchestra, Messiah with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Knoxville Summer of 1915 with the Ridgefield Symphony, a Gala concert with the Sarasota Symphony, and a New Year’s Eve Gala with the New Orleans Opera.
Upcoming engagements: Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Michigan Opera Theater, the Soprano Soloist in Carmina Burana at Avery Fisher Hall and with the Tulsa Opera and Ballet, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with Des Moines Opera, Violetta in La Traviata with Opera Theater of Connecticut, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with Arizona Opera, Candide with the Munich Philharmonic, Josephine in HMS Pinafore with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Pamina in Die Zauberflote with New Orleans Opera, and Micaela in Carmen with the Santo Domingo Festival in the Dominican Republic.
Sarah Jane has recorded the title role in the premiere recording of Emmerich Kalman's Sari, available on Albany Records. She also has an album of sacred music dedicated to New Orleans and the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, as well as a newly released Christmas album, Night of Silence.