Sarah Crane
Encyclopedia
Sarah Crane is an Australia
n opera
tic soprano
.
in Brisbane
, Sarah Crane graduated in 1997 from the Queensland Conservatorioum of Music and received the Brisbane
Lord Mayor's Performing Arts Fellowship
. That year, Crane sang in the Australian premiere of Elliot Goldenthal
's Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio
.
In 1997, Crane won Opera Foundation Australia's 1997 Lady Galleghan Memorial Encouragement Award, the German Opera Award and the Australian regional final of the Metropolitan Opera Award which enabled her to be a finalist in the 1998 Metropolitan Opera
Auditions in New York. In 1998 she received the American Institute of Musical Studies Award from Opera Foundation Australia which gave her the opportunity to study in Graz
, Austria.
Opera. In September 2000, Crane started a one-year contract as a Young Artist with the Opéra national du Rhin
in Strasbourg
, where she performed the roles of Gretel in Humperdinck
's Hänsel und Gretel and of The Female Chorus in Britten
's The Rape of Lucretia.
In September 2001, Crane worked as a full time soloist with the Freiburg Opera in Germany. There she sang Pamina in Mozart
's Die Zauberflöte
, Ginevra in Handel
’s Ariodante
, Janthe in Heinrich Marschner
's Der Vampyr
, and the soprano solo in Bruno Maderna
’s Hyperion. During the season, she also made guest appearances in the role of Pamina for the Basel Opera
. She continued her engagements in Freiburg for the 2002/2003 season with the role of Marzelline in Beethoven
's Fidelio
, the title role in Benedetto Marcello
’s Arianna and Micaëla in Bizet
’s Carmen
. She also performed the soprano solos for Frank Martin
’s Maria-Triptychon as well as for Karol Szymanowski
's Stabat Mater
with the Philharmonic Orchestra Freiburg.
When Crane returned to Australia, she sang for Opera Queensland
Juliette in Charles Gounod
's Roméo et Juliette
, Anna in Verdi
's Nabucco
, and again Pamina and Marzellina. For Opera Australia
she sang the First Lady and Pamina (in separate productions) in Die Zauberflöte, Oberto in Handel's Alcina
and Angelica in Orlando
, the Wood Nymph in Dvořák
's Rusalka
and again Micäela in Carmen, and Sophie in Massenet
's Werther
. In 2007, Sarah Crane created the role of Hero in the Victorian Opera
and Opera Queensland productions of Richard Mills
' opera The Love of the Nightingale
.
Her concert
engagements include Handel's Messiah
, Mozart’s Requiem
, Beethoven's Choral Symphony
, Brahms’
German Requiem, Orff
's Carmina Burana
(with The Queensland Orchestra), Opera Under the Stars (in Broome, Western Australia
) and appearances with the Queensland Pops Orchestra. In 2006 she appeared in Opera Australia's 50th birthday gala concert at the Sydney Opera House
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
.
Education
After attending All Hallows' SchoolAll Hallows' School
All Hallows' School is a Catholic day school for girls, located close to the central business district of Brisbane, Queensland.Founded in 1861, the school follows in the tradition of the Irish Sisters of Mercy, and caters for over 1,300 girls from years five to 12...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Sarah Crane graduated in 1997 from the Queensland Conservatorioum of Music and received the Brisbane
City of Brisbane
The City of Brisbane is the Local Government Area that has jurisdiction over the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia...
Lord Mayor's Performing Arts Fellowship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
. That year, Crane sang in the Australian premiere of Elliot Goldenthal
Elliot Goldenthal
Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, and is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways...
's Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio
Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio
Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio is a large scale orchestral oratorio composed by Elliot Goldenthal, commissioned and performed by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in 1993 for the 20th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.-The album:...
.
In 1997, Crane won Opera Foundation Australia's 1997 Lady Galleghan Memorial Encouragement Award, the German Opera Award and the Australian regional final of the Metropolitan Opera Award which enabled her to be a finalist in the 1998 Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
Auditions in New York. In 1998 she received the American Institute of Musical Studies Award from Opera Foundation Australia which gave her the opportunity to study in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Austria.
Career
During the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons, Crane was engaged as a member of the Opera Studio at the CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
Opera. In September 2000, Crane started a one-year contract as a Young Artist with the Opéra national du Rhin
Opéra national du Rhin
LOpéra national du Rhin is an opera company which performs in Alsace, eastern France, and which includes the Opéra in Strasbourg, the company's ballet in Mulhouse , and the "Opéra Studio" , a training centre for young singers, in Colmar...
in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, where she performed the roles of Gretel in Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province; at the age of 67 he died in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.-Life:After receiving piano lessons, Humperdinck produced his first composition...
's Hänsel und Gretel and of The Female Chorus in Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's The Rape of Lucretia.
In September 2001, Crane worked as a full time soloist with the Freiburg Opera in Germany. There she sang Pamina in Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Die Zauberflöte
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Ginevra in Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
’s Ariodante
Ariodante
Ariodante is an opera seria in three acts by Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso...
, Janthe in Heinrich Marschner
Heinrich Marschner
Heinrich August Marschner , was the most important composer of German Romantic opera between Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, and is remembered principally for his operas Hans Heiling , Der Vampyr , and Der Templer und die Jüdin...
's Der Vampyr
Der Vampyr
Der Vampyr is a Romantic opera in two acts by Heinrich Marschner. The German libretto by Wilhelm August Wohlbrück is based on the play Der Vampir oder die Totenbraut by Heinrich Ludwig Ritter, which itself was based on the short novel The Vampyre by John Polidori...
, and the soprano solo in Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna was an Italian conductor and composer. For the last ten years of his life he lived in Germany and eventually became a citizen of that country.-Biography:...
’s Hyperion. During the season, she also made guest appearances in the role of Pamina for the Basel Opera
Theater Basel
Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas....
. She continued her engagements in Freiburg for the 2002/2003 season with the role of Marzelline in Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, the title role in Benedetto Marcello
Benedetto Marcello
Benedetto Marcello was a Venetian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.-Life:...
’s Arianna and Micaëla in Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
’s Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
. She also performed the soprano solos for Frank Martin
Frank Martin (composer)
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...
’s Maria-Triptychon as well as for Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
's Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater (Szymanowski)
Karol Szymanowski's Stabat Mater was composed in 1925-1926 for soprano, alto and baritone soloists, SATB choir, and orchestra. The work is divided into six movements and uses Jozef Janowski's Polish translation of the Marian hymn, Stabat Mater....
with the Philharmonic Orchestra Freiburg.
When Crane returned to Australia, she sang for Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981, then under the name Lyric Opera of Queensland, after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980.It is after Opera Australia the second...
Juliette in Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
, Anna in Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
, and again Pamina and Marzellina. For Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
she sang the First Lady and Pamina (in separate productions) in Die Zauberflöte, Oberto in Handel's Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
and Angelica in Orlando
Orlando (opera)
Orlando is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel written for the Royal Academy of Music . The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's L'Orlando after Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which was also the source of Handel's operas Alcina and...
, the Wood Nymph in Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
's Rusalka
Rusalka (opera)
Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses...
and again Micäela in Carmen, and Sophie in Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
's Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
. In 2007, Sarah Crane created the role of Hero in the Victorian Opera
Victorian Opera (Melbourne)
Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 and commenced operations in January 2006 with funding from the Victorian government, and Richard Gill as Artistic Director...
and Opera Queensland productions of Richard Mills
Richard Mills
Richard John Mills AM, DMus BA Qld, is an Australian conductor and composer. He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria...
' opera The Love of the Nightingale
The Love of the Nightingale (opera)
The Love of the Nightingale is an opera in two acts by Richard Mills. The libretto by Timberlake Wertenbaker is based on her play of the same name...
.
Her concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
engagements include Handel's Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
, Mozart’s Requiem
Requiem (Mozart)
The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
, Beethoven's Choral Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
, Brahms’
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
German Requiem, Orff
Carl Orff
Carl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
's Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana (Orff)
Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana...
(with The Queensland Orchestra), Opera Under the Stars (in Broome, Western Australia
Broome, Western Australia
Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
) and appearances with the Queensland Pops Orchestra. In 2006 she appeared in Opera Australia's 50th birthday gala concert at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
.
Discography
- 2006: Opera Australia's 50th Birthday Gala Concert at the Sydney Opera HouseSydney Opera HouseThe Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
; Roadshow Entertainment - 2007: as Nymph in RusalkaRusalka (opera)Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses...
, Richard HickoxRichard HickoxRichard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
(cond), Australian Opera OrchestraAustralian Opera and Ballet OrchestraThe Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra is one of two full time, permanent orchestras employed jointly to provide music for Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet, the other is known as Orchestra Victoria...
, Cheryl BarkerCheryl BarkerCheryl Barker is an Australian operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records, including Dvořák's Rusalka , Janáček's The Makropulos Case , Janáček's Káťa Kabanová , and Puccini's Madama...
, Rosario La SpinaRosario La SpinaRosario La Spina is an Australian operatic tenor who has had an active international career since the early 2000s. He has worked with many leading opera houses and orchestras, singing under such conductors as Renato Palumbo, Bruno Bartoletti, Gary Bertini, Daniele Callegari and Richard Hickox...
, Bruce Martin, Elizabeth Whitehouse, Anne-Marie Owens; Chandos RecordsChandos RecordsChandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...