About
American soprano Sarah Nalty is a passionate performer whose varied and international repertoire ranges from the American to Mandarin to Ukrainian, and spans the Medieval era to the 21st century. Her summer season includes Britten's Les illuminations at Bard with Euterpe Ensemble, and Stella (cover) in Viardot's Le dernier sorcier at Bard Music Festival. Her 2024-2025 season will begin at Hudson Hall in a work-in-progress performance of American Terror, a new opera by Jeffrey Lependorf. In the 2023-2024 season, she appeared as Rosa in Rumshinsky's Yiddish operetta Shir Hashirim with the YIVO Institute in New York City, as Minerve in Orphée aux enfers with Bard Conservatory, and Saariaho's From the Grammar of Dreams at Bard's annual Kurtág Festival. She closed her time at Bard with a full-length recital featuring Fauré's La bonne chanson and Bartók's Dedinské scény, with pianist Gabrielė Żemaitytė. In Fall 2023, she was a Finalist in Bard's annual Concerto Competition, singing Britten's Les illuminations at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Alongside her Bard colleagues, she also curated and performed in Visitors, a song recital examining the American immigrant experience, in partnership with the Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History.
In the 2022-23 season, Sarah joined the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard Conservatory. Season highlights with Bard included Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Mauricio Kagel's Der Turm zu Babel, and Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) in the Opera Scenes program. She was also a featured soloist in "Berlin im Licht: A German Cabaret" at the Fisher Center and a Goethe Liederabend at Beattie-Powers Place (Catskill, NY). Sarah finished her season in Lewisburg, PA with the Berkeley-Bucknell Chamber Music Collective, where she sang Lieder by Fanny Mendelssohn and excerpts from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (as Contessa), with fortepiano and other period instruments.
Previously, Sarah attended the New England Conservatory, where she appeared regularly with the Undergraduate Opera Studio, and in the Liederabend series. In 2021, she performed Elle in Poulenc’s La voix humaine on the steps of Jordan Hall as part of an outdoor, socially-distanced concert. That same year, she presented a recital of Ives, Poulenc, Strozzi and Schubert. Previous season highlights included scenes performances as Norina (Don Pasquale) and Marzelline (Fidelio), and Liederabend performances of Robert Schumann and Poulenc.
A frequent recitalist, she has performed in numerous Liederabende in the Hudson Valley, Boston, and Graz, Austria. While attending the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, she was recognized with the prestigious Harold Heiberg Liedersänger Preis for her performances. In her concert work, Sarah often programs under-performed repertoire from the Eastern European canon, presenting works by Czech, Russian, Polish, Hungarian & Ukrainian composers, such as Vítězslava Kaprálová, Béla Bartók & Yakiv Stepovyi.
Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Sarah was a long-time member of the Peabody Children’s Chorus, with whom she sang numerous performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music from New England Conservatory and is recently completed her graduate studies at Bard Conservatory, under the tutelage of Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, Stephanie Blythe, Kayo Iwama, and Erika Switzer.
Selected Credits
Opera (* - scenes)
William F. Buckley American Terror (in concert) Hudson Hall (2024)
Stella (cover) Le dernier sorcier Bard Music Festival (2024)
*Donna Elvira Don Giovanni Bard Conservatory
Minerve Orphée aux enfers Bard Conservatory
Rosa Shir Hashirim (in concert) YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
*Contessa Le nozze di Figaro BB Chamber Music Collective Festival
*Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier Bard Conservatory
Elle La voix humaine New England Conservatory
*Norina Don Pasquale New England Conservatory
*Stasi Die Csárdásfürstin AIMS, Graz
Concert / Oratorio
Britten Les Illuminations Bard, Euterpe Ensemble (2024)
Saariaho From the Grammar of Dreams Bard, Kurtág Festival
Pergolesi Stabat Mater Bard Conservatory
Various Vocal Chamber Music Bard Conservatory
Kagel Der Turm zu Babel Bard Conservatory
Weill Weimar Cabaret Bard, Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
Liederabend / Recital
Grieg: Sechs Lieder West Side United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI
Bartók, Fauré, Schwantner, Sibelius, Bard Conservatory
Vuillermoz, Zemlinsky
Gelbart, Harbison, Ives, Clarke, Visitors, Old Dutch Church, Kingston, NY
Crawford Seeger, Weiner
Fanny Mendelssohn BB Chamber Music Collective Festival, Lewisburg, PA
Lysenko, Stetsenko, Stepovyi Bard Conservatory
Loewe Beattie-Powers House, Catskill, NY
Strozzi, Poulenc, Ives, Schubert New England Conservatory
R. Schumann New England Conservatory
Jensen, Schubert, Wolf, Schoenberg AIMS, Graz
Kaprálová, Rimsky-Korsakov, Strauss New England Conservatory
