Sarah Walker

Sarah Walker began her musical life as a violinist at the Royal College of Music and subsequently studied singing with Madame Vera Rozsa with whom she has a built up an extraordinarily wide repertoire ranging from Bach and the Baroque to twentieth century composers such as Berio, Boulez and Birtwistle.

Miss Walker is much in demand on the concert platform worldwide where she has worked with conductors such as Solti, Kleiber, Norrington, Masur, Rattle, Gardiner, Muti, Harnoncourt, Mackerras, Rozdestvensky and Haitink. She was a memorable Britannia at the Last Night of the Proms and took part in the performance of Beethoven's 9th, conducted by the late Leonard Bernstein in Berlin, given to celebrate the opening of the Berlin Wall at Christmas in 1989.

Since her debut at Glyndebourne - as Diana/Giove in Cavalli's "La Calisto", she has sung in opera houses all over the world including The Royal Opera House Covent Garden - where she made her debut as Charlotte in Massenet's "Werther" opposite Alfredo Kraus, The Metropolitan Opera New York - where she debuted as Micah in Handel's "Samson" with Jon Vickers in the title role, the Vienna Staatsoper, Le Châtelet in Paris, Geneva, Brussels, Hamburg, Munich, Chicago, San Francisco, Lisbon, Madrid and many others. Among more than sixty roles in her repertoire are Didon, Maria Stuarda, Fricka, Klytämnestra, Dorabella, Donna Elvira, Katisha, Mistress Quickly, numerous Handel and Monteverdi heroines and the title role in Britten's Gloriana, videoed for Virgin Classics. Recently she took part in Pavarotti's 60th birthday performances of Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at the Met. Current and future plans include her operatic debut at La Scala in "Peter Grimes" and three new roles: Mme de Croissy in " Dialogues des Carmelites"; the Fortune Teller in "Arabella" and Grandmother Burya in "Jenufa".

Miss Walker has perhaps received the greatest critical acclaim for her work on the recital platform and, since the overwhelming success of her Wigmore Hall debut, she has visited all the major European cities and Festivals, has toured extensively in the USA, Australia and New Zealand and has made numerous recordings which reflect her enormous repertoire. She can now be seen and heard at www.sarahwalker.com on a computer near you.

Sarah Walker was made a C.B.E. in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours.