Biography
International Verdian/Wagnerian soprano Sarai Cole is a rising star in the opera world. Recently she performed in Staats Oper Stutgart’s spring festival, Wirklich Wirklich, in an experimental production called White Limozeen.
Ms. Cole has won countless awards including the Barry Alexander International Voice Competition (Carnegie Hall), the Harlem Opera Theatre Competition (Apollo Theater), the Long Beach Mozart Festival Competition, Wagner Society of New York Ursula Springer Award, the Frances E. Williams Artist Grants, and has been a finalist in many more competitions, the Philadelphia Orchestra Greenfield Competition (2012 & 2013) and the AIMS Meister Singer competition among them. In addition to the awards and competitions Sarai has received many grants from Wagner societies across the United States and Germany.
Ms. Cole has studied with and learned from (via masterclass) some of the most famous singers and coaches in the opera world, including Mignon Dunn, Montserrat Caballé, Joan Dorneman and her current voice teacher Deborah Polaski, just to name a few.
Sarai began her musical studies at age eight when she started singing in a professional children’s choir. moving into high school, she went to the famous LACHSA where she was a music major. Ms. Cole has a BA in Acting from Rider University, and further holds a MM in Opera Performance from Temple University.
While at Temple University, Sarai was featured in Temple University Opera Theater's productions as The First Lady in The Magic Flute, Suor Angelica in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring. While working on her masters Sarai was also performing with regional companies from Washington DC to Boston, including Harlem Opera Theater, Hunterdon Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Symphony. Her performed roles during this time include Leonora from verdi’s Il Trovatore, Puccini’s Tosca, Woglinde, Aida, Santuzza, and Giorgetta. Ms. Cole has also performed in many distinguished venues across the world such as Carnegie Hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Kimmel Center (Verizon Hall & Perelman Theater), Teatro Sodre (Montevideo, Uruguay), Auditorio Astengo (Rosario, Argentina), Auditorio Juan Victoria (San Juan, Argentina), The Berliner Philharmonie, as well as numerous auditoriums, churches, Opera houses, and synagogues in the US, South America, Austria, Germany, and Spain. Sarai performs regularly in Berlin with many of the music festivals, at the Berliner dom, and the berlin Philharmonie. Most recently, Sarai sang in the Impulse festival in Dusseldorf, a charity concert to benefit the American Foundation for suicide prevention, a two night event at the Botanical gardens in berlin, a series of concerts in Spain, and sang in a masterclass with Günther Groissböck. In November 2020 Sarai will cover Abigaille (Nabucco) with the Oper im Berg Festival. Sarai's Berlin Brandenburg Wagner Society stipend as well as her Bayreuth Wagner Festival Stipendium honor, will be rescheduled for 2021.
Roles Performed
Stabat Mater - Pergolese - Auenkirche - 2019
Verdi's Requiem Soprano Soloist - Diplo Chor - Berliner Dom Concert - 2019
Cio-Cio-San - White Limozeen - Frühjarsfestival Staatsoper Stuttgart (an experimental opera featuring the arias and some scenes from Madame Butterfly)
Aida - Aida - International Verdi Society
Wardrobe - Beauty and the Beast - Newtown Theater
Georgette - Tabarro - Sunday Opera/Utah Festival Theater
Sarah - Ragtime - Music Mountain Theater
Freia/Woglinde - Das Rheingold - Lexington Symphony/Symphony NH
Waldvogel - Siegfried - Lexington Symphony/Symphony NH
Gutrune- Götterdämmerung - Lexington Symphony/Symphony NH
Suor Angelica - Suor Angelica - Chicago Summer Opera
Leonora - Il Trovatore - Center Stage Opera
Lady Billows - Albert Herring - Temple University Opera Theater
Tosca - Tosca in Concert - The Opera Project
Santuzza - Cavalleria Rusticana - Rep. Opera Theater of Washington D.C.
The First Lady - Die Zauberflöte - Temple University Opera Theater
Upcoming Roles
Sieglinde - Die Walküre - Wagner - 2023
Eboli - Don Carlos - Verdi - 2023
Abigaile - Nabucco - 2024
Covered Roles
Brünnhilde - Siegfried - Wagner - Berlin Opera Gruppe 2022
Abigaille - Nabucco - Verdi - Oper im Berg Festival 2020
Serena - Porgy and Bess - Teatro Petruzzelli - 2017
Sieglinde - Die Walküre - Boston Wagner Society - 2016
Donna Elvira - Don Giovanni - Center Stage Opera - 2015
Rosalinde - Die Fledermaus - Poor Richard’s Opera - 2014