This user has not added any information to their profile yet.
Winner of the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Award, soprano Sarah-Jane Brandon studied at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School, and was a participant in the 2011 Salzburg Festival's Young Singers Project.
Sarah-Jane Brandon’s operatic appearances this season include her return to the Semperoper Dresden as Contessa Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro and at Theater Bremen she will make two role debuts, as Vitellia La Clemenza di Tito and as Lady Macbeth in a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth
In the 2022/23 season, Sarah-Jane Brandon’s operatic engagements included Donna Anna Don Giovanni and Contessa Le nozze di Figaro for the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and at Theater Bremen she made roles debuts as Elisabetta di Valois Don Carlo and in the title role of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.
Other recent appearances include her house debut as Antonia Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Bayerische Staatsoper; the Governess in a new production of Turn of the Screw for the Opéra national de Lorraine; Contessa Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro for the Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Glyndebourne, ENO, Opéra de Dijon, the National Theatre of Bahrain and Palm Beach Opera; the title role of Jenufa for Greek National Opera, Opéra de Dijon and Opéra Caen; Micaela Carmen for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Teatro Nacional São Carlos, Lisbon where she also appeared as Donna Clara Der Zwerg; Mimi La bohéme and Desdemona Otello for Cape Town Opera; Antonia Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Semperoper Dresden and the title role of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri and Donna Anna Don Giovanni for the Teatro Massimo, Palermo.
Recent and future concert highlights include Vier letzte Lieder with the Staatskapelle Dresden; Haydn’s Creation with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the BBC Proms; Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with the Bremen Philharmonic Berg’s Seven Early Songs with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Mendelssohn’s Elias with Ensemble Pygmalion and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; 1st Soprano in Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and also with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Orchestre national de Lyon and the Staatskapelle Dresden; Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 with the Deutsches Kammerphilharmonie at the Leipzig Bachfest; Brahms German Requiem with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Verdi Requiem in Aldeburgh and with the Philharmonic Orchestra, Freiburg.
Conductors with whom Sarah-Jane has collaborated include: Sir Andrew Davies, Sir Roger Norrington; Bernard Haitink; the late Kurt Masur; Omer Meir Wellber; Edward Gardner; Vasily Petrenko and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Further concert highlights include Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner; Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sylvain Cambreling, and appearances at the Edinburgh Festival with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis; the Mozarteum Orchestra and Ivor Bolton; the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Kurt Masur; the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Andris Nelsons, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko and with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Bernard Haitink.
Sarah-Jane’s recent recital appearances include her debut recital at the Wigmore Hall with James Baillieu; Trinity College Cambridge and the Leeds Lieder Festival with Malcolm Martineau; the Musée d'Orsay and Birmingham's Barber Institute with Simon Lepper and the Wigmore Hall and the Buxton, Hay-on-Wye, Chester and Oxford Lieder Festivals with Gary Matthewman. She has recorded Poulenc with Graham Johnson and Wolf Lieder with Sholto Kynoch.
Biography not for publication, for an up to date version please contact Oliver Clarke.
"One of tomorrow's great divas..."
Michael Church, The Independent
"Produced a pearly tone that nobody else came close to matching, her Dove Sono showed star potential."
Richard Morrison, The Times
"Sarah-Jane Brandon - what a voice! Brandon set these Mozart arias ablaze with her shimmering, golden and ultimately dazzling voice."
Paul Guest, Huffington Post
"The production was dominated by Sarah-Jane Brandon, her beautiful rendition of Desdemona - a mistaken and shamed character - carried the production throughout."
Clifford Graham, Artslink.co.za
"Sarah-Jane Brandon sings with creamy perfection throughout as the lovelorn Countess, opening with “Porgi Amor” and delivering a fabulous “Dove Sono” which, in its piano moments, brought us all to the edge of our seats with its tender intensity.”
Charlotte Valori, Bachtrack
"The absolute vocal star of the evening was Sarah-Jane Brandon."
Alexander Campbell, Classical Source
"I have rarely heard “Dove Sono” sung with more affecting purity; her Contessa is also a perfectly judged portrait of a gracious and spirited woman humiliated.”
Richard Morrison, The Times
"The evenness of Brandon's tone is remarkable, so too is the creaminess of her top notes, beautifully sustained and projected.”
Neil Fisher, The Times
"Sarah-Jane Brandon was radiant as the Countess, her exquisitely beautiful “Dove Sono” the vocal standout of the evening, she spun glorious high notes of a golden timbre to match. In the emotive conviction of her singing, one felt all the insecurity and the anguish of this most sympathetic of spurned wives.”
John E de Walt, Opera Brittania