Soprano Sarah Gabriel (formerly Sarah Moule) made her European debut during Christmas 2010/New Year 2011 at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris playing Eliza Doolittle in Robert Carsen’s triumphant new production of My Fair Lady, opposite Alex Jennings as Higgins.
She was critically acclaimed for her US debut as Lucy Lockit in Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera, conducted by Lorin Maazel and directed by Will Kerley. A 2008 and 2009 young artist for Lorin Maazel’s Chateauville Foundation, she returned as principal artist to sing at his Castleton Festival in July 2010.
In the summer of 2011 Sarah created her first film role on the Greek island of Milos with a stellar French cast in director Brigitte Rouan’s new feature, Tu honoreras ta mere et ta mere. The film will be released internationally in 2012.
Further highlights from 2011 include the coloratura role of the unhinged Jerusha Cramer in the long-awaited revival and Dublin debut of Gerald Barry’s operatic masterpiece, The Intelligence Park (also broadcast on RTE), Schoenberg’s String Quartet no. 2 and Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock with Ensemble 360 for Music-in-the-Round at Sheffield Crucible, Walton’s Facade and Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire with Orchestra of St. Paul’s at the Barber Institute in Birmingham, Dominic Harlan’s ‘When yesterday we met’ at the Tête à Tête opera festival at the Riverside Studios in London.
Fast developing a reputation for her vocal and theatrical versatility as well as her compelling stage presence, her operatic appearances include Poulenc’s monologue La Voix Humaine, Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress (both for Dartington International Summer School), The Singer in an adaptation of Brecht/Eisler’s The Measures Taken (Sphinx Theatre Company, The Young Vic), Mandane in the 280-year revival of Hasse’s Artaserse (Ensemble Serse), Le Feu in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges and Adele in Die Fledermaus for Iris Theatre/Orchestra of St. Paul’s and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) for the Stephen Pimlott Foundation, conducted by Ben Palmer.
She relishes working with living composers and in October 2010 she gave her first performance with the London Sinfonietta, singing ‘cover versions’ by John Woolrich, Salvatore Sciarrino and Sylvano Bussotti. In 2010 she worked with Complicite and director Simon McBurney on the development of Alexander Raskatov’s new opera A Dog’s Heart.
Performances with orchestra include Orff Carmina Burana, Poulenc Gloria, Mozart C Minor Mass, Haydn Nelson Mass for Bath International Festival, Bach St. John Passion and Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem in Rome, Italian operatic arias at LSO St. Luke’s and the Anghiari Festival, Tuscany, Fauré Requiem in Lescar Cathedral, France, Proserpine in Henze’s The Judgement of Calliope, conducted by David Angus.
Sarah is a passionate recitalist of all periods and has given song premieres at Wigmore Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. John’s, Smith Square and St. George’s Brandon Hill, Bristol. As a featured artist for the Louise Blouin Foundation’s inaugural contemporary concert series, she sang the premiere of Michael Berkeley’s cycle Songs to Children and performed Schoenberg String Quartet No. 2 with the Finzi Quartet. While performing in Paris at Christmas she made guest appearances singing musical theatre standards on Europe 1, France Culture and France Musique, including a programme dedicated to My Fair Lady on the musical theatre show, 42e Rue. She will return give make a ‘carte blanche’ recording of songs by Gershwin and Arlen in 2012.
She has given baroque recitals in Lausanne, Venice and Bologna, for Handel House, the European Broadcasting Union and as part of Gabrieli Consort principal continuo Christopher Suckling’s new ensemble, Abbandonata for which she sang Handel’s cantatas La Lucrezia and Armida Abbandonata at the launch concert. 2012 will see the inaugural concert of Sarah’s new duo with harpsichordist Nathaniel Mander, Fete Galante, established to explore their shared passion for French baroque music.
She gave her South Bank Centre debut singing Britten’s Cabaret Songs with the Orchestra of St. Paul’s chamber ensemble at the Purcell Room and in summer 2009, sang Britten songs at Trump Tower, New York, to commemorate the end of Lorin Maazel’s tenure with the New York Philharmonic orchestra.
Sarah is also an alumna of the Britten-Pears young artist programme at Aldeburgh, studying Handel with Michael Chance and Richard Egarr, and a recipient of a Finzi Trust scholarship to research and perform neglected baroque music in Bologna and Venice. Born in London, Sarah read English at Cambridge.
