Biography

                Sarah Jane McMahon is recognized for her beautiful vocal sophistication and sparkling stage presence. She opened the New York City Opera's 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 a “deft comic actress with perfectly turned cartwheels” as well as earning praise for her vocal polish and flexibility. Sarah Jane made her debut with the New York City Opera as Galatea in Handel's Acis and Galatea. The New York Times described her as “bright, active, and fastidiously musical,” and New York City Opera bestowed upon her 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 Central City Opera as Maria in West Side Story, Kathie in The Student Prince, and Lucia in Rape of Lucretia, with Piedmont Opera as Clara in The Light in the Piazza, with Opera Grand Rapids as Maria in West Side Story and Micaela in Carmen, with the Washington Concert Opera as Dorinda in Handel's Orlando, with 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 Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Musetta in La Boheme, 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, a New Year's Eve Gala with the New Orleans Opera, and Yum-Yum in The Mikado and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with the Colorado Symphony. She has also performed in Broadway by the Year 1959, Broadway Unplugged, A Night at the Operetta, and A Tribute to Lerner and Loewe Concerts on Broadway.

                Upcoming engagements include her international debut in Candide at the Wiener Konzerthaus, a return to New Orleans Opera as Micaela in Carmen, Knoxville Summer of 1915 with the Ridgefield Symphony, Anne in A Little Night Music with Central City Opera, and a Gala Concert with Placido Domingo.

                Sarah Jane has recorded the title role in the premiere recording of Emmerich Kalman's Sari, which is available on Albany Records, as well as an album of sacred music dedicated to New Orleans and the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.