Mezzo-soprano Sarah Nelson Craft has received wide acclaim for her solo and operatic performances. In response to her 2016 Spotlight Recital at Carnegie Hall with pianist Warren Jones, Opera News called her “exquisite… glowing… genuine,” while Voce di Meche hailed her as a “born storyteller.” Carnegie Hall invited her back for another solo recital in 2018 for their Neighborhood Concerts Series, and in 2019 she continued to bring her passion for art song to the stage, performing Hugo Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder with pianist Martin Katz at the Five Boroughs Music Festival. Recent concert debuts include Joseph Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and the title role in Handel’s Solomon with Amor Artis Chorus and New York Baroque Inc. For her latest concert with Brooklyn Art Song Society’s 2020 digital season of Schubert lieder, Seen and Heard International praised her “sincerity and warmth” as well as “the rich beauty of her voice and her dramatic instincts.” Engagements that were canceled in 2020 included a tour of Bach arias and Harbison songs with Camerata Pacifica throughout Southern California, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the National Philharmonic, and the role of Melisande in Pelleas et Melisande with Maryland Lyric Opera.
Other notable concert work has included her Lincoln Center debut in 2012 as both alto and soprano II soloist in Bach’s Mass in B minor with the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the American Classical Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Masterworks Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with Princeton Pro Musica, and Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra. In 2019 she gave a New England recital tour with pianist Deidre Brenner, culminating in a performance and residency at Dartmouth College.
On the opera stage she most recently brought her “pleasing, well-formed mezzo” (Opera UK) to the challenging role of Piramo in Johann Adolph Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe with The Little Opera Theatre of NY. Her performance as Dorabella in LoftOpera’s Così fan tutte, drew universal acclaim as well; Opera News noted that her “warm, rich voice brought out the magic” while Parterre Box called her performance “excellent… pliant and luminous.” Other favorite operatic roles have included Cenerentola, Cherubino, Dido, Rosina, Hansel, Hermia, Nancy in Albert Herring, and the title role in Cendrillon, working with companies such as the Caramoor International Music Festival, Opera North, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, and the Macau International Music Festival.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Ms. Craft holds a Bachelor’s Degree (cum laude) in Italian and music from Dartmouth College and a Master’s Degree in vocal performance from the University of North Texas College of Music. She trained as a Young Artist with Bel Canto at Caramoor and at the Music Academy of the West where she worked with Marilyn Horne, who continues to be a mentor. She has been a first prize and audience choice award winner at the district level of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and won third place in The American Prize in Art Song and Oratorio 2016.