Biography

The New York Times has hailed Sara Murphy's as a voice that "soared with a lovely musicality.” Upcoming events include singing Donna Elvira in "An Evening of Mozart" at Weill Recital Hall on November 12, 2011. She will sing the mezzo-soprano solos in the Dvorak Requiem on November 20 with the St. George's Choral Society in New York city. She will also be featured in concert excerpts of Aida and Il Trovatore on December 4 and will give a solo recital with pianist Ami Hakuno Rogé on the Trail Mix Concert Series in Woodstock, NY on December 18, 2011. She will serve as soprano soloist this spring in Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle with Pro Arte Chorale in New Jersey.

She appeared most recently with Canta Lyrica in May 2011 for a concert of opera excerpts, including Mozart's Idomeneo. Other recent performances include an all-Schumann recital with baritone Randall Scarlata and pianist Dalton Baldwin and a benefit recital for Canta Lyrica with conductor and pianist Joshua Greene in November 2010.

Sara was a 2010 Wagner Society of New York grant recipient and was also finalist in the 2010 Joy in Singing Competition. She won an Honorable Mention award in the  2010 George London Foundation Competition. She performed the Wagner Wesendonck Lieder in recital several times throughout the fall and winter of 2009-2010.  In November 2009, she was named the first runner up in the South Orange Symphony Artist Competition. In spring 2010 she joined pianists Pascal and Ami Rogé in an afternoon of music by Johannes Brahms on the Trail Mix Concert Series in the Catskills.

She was recently featured as a soloist in the Beethoven Mass in C Major with Canta Lyrica and the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Joshua Greene. Her 2009 performances also included the Szymanowski Stabat Mater with the Monmouth Civic Chorus under the direction of Dr. Mark Shapiro. Other recent performances include the role of Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites with the New York Opera Society. She was soprano soloist in Schubert’s Mirjams Siegesgesang and Die Allmacht with Canta Lyrica under the direction of Joshua Greene. She has performed the soprano solos in the Szymanowski Stabat Mater, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and the beloved “Pie Jesu” from the Duruflé Requiem for Sacred Music in a Sacred Space at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City, where she also premiered a setting of Jesu, Bambino and Sweet L'il Jesus Boy commissioned for her.

Sara earned a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and a master’s from Catholic University.
Well known to Washington, DC audiences, she has performed as a soloist in choral and symphonic engagements at the Kennedy Center, and with the Washington Bach Consort, the Master Chorale and Chamber Singers of Washington and the McLean Chorale. Sara may also be heard as a soloist on the Albany Records recording of A Holocaust Cantata, composed and conducted by Donald J. McCullough. She holds the distinction of having been one of the Washington Bach Consort’s youngest soloists under the baton of J. Reilly Lewis.
 
Conductors, composers and critics consistently note her innate musicality. The Washington Post reported, “A highlight was Murphy’s gently optimistic aria … which made such a strong impression that it was repeated before going into the final chorale.”