Sarah Brailey, voice

Headshot of Sarah

GRAMMY Award-winning soprano Sarah Brailey enjoys a versatile career that defies categorization. Praised by The New York Times for her “radiant, liquid tone,” and by Opera UK for “a sound of remarkable purity,” she is a prolific vocalist, cellist, recording artist, and educator.

Sarah’s numerous career highlights include performing with Kanye West and alternative-classical vocal band Roomful of Teeth at the Hollywood Bowl, serenading the Mona Lisa with John Zorn’s Madrigals at the Louvre in Paris, and performing the role of The Soul in the world premiere recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, for which she received the 2020 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Other notable recent and upcoming projects include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Colorado Symphony; Julia Wolfe’s Her Story with the Lorelei Ensemble and the Boston, Chicago, Nashville, National, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras; and John Zorn works with Barbara Hannigan at the Elbphilharmonie.

Sarah is a member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. Through Beyond Artists, she supports NRDC, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and the Animal Welfare Institute. Sarah is a co-founder of Just Bach, a monthly concert series in Madison, Wisconsin, the Artistic Director of the Handel Aria Competition, and the Director of Vocal Studies at the University of Chicago. Learn more at www.sarahbrailey.com.