Biography
Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Rose Taylor is in increasing demand for her versatile voice and compelling musicianship. The warmth and beauty of her voice is admired by audiences and
critics alike, with The Boston Musical Intelligencer writing “sung with gorgeous shading and intensity…whose clarity and focus brought the audience to rapt attention, setting just the right mood for the transition to the drama of the final movement.” (Urlicht from Mahler’s Symphony No.2, Resurrection)
Having appeared as a soloist in Austria, France, Germany, Italy and The Bahamas, Ms Taylor maintains an active schedule across the United States, including recital engagements in Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington DC. In 2014, she performed her Weill Carnegie Hall solo debut singing selections of Elgar’s Sea Pictures. Ms Taylor has also appeared as a finalist in both the Peter Elvins Vocal Competition (Cambridge, MA) and the Talents Lyriques, Reims Voix Sacrées Competition (Reims, France) and most recently as a semi-finalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation with NYIOP.
In 2015, MSR Classics released Ms. Taylor’s solo debut CD of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Elgar’s Sea Pictures and ‘The Angel’s Farewell’ from The Dream of Gerontius, which has been reviewed as “lends her rich, dark mezzo to the lush texture of the work.” Fanfare; “Sarah Rose Taylor’s voice is warm, radiant and creamy…first class…” Music & Vision, Sydney; “Ms. Taylor’s ravishing voice… filled with lyrical tenderness and power as needed. I am very impressed with her vocal artistry. It (Wagner/Elgar CD) is unforgettable and Sarah Rose Taylor is a marvel!” Gapplegate Music Review.
Ms. Taylor’s wide ranging oratorio repertoire has included solo role performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Debussy’s Cantate La Damoiselle Elue and Arvo Pärt’s Passio. In 2015 she sang with The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, for Carnegie Hall’s Spem in alium Tallis Project. In 2022, she performed a concert of Operatic Arias by Handel and Purcell with the Choir of St. Thomas Fifth Avenue and New York Baroque Incorporated for their Concert honoring The Saint George’s Society of New York, directed by Dr. Jeremy Filsell.
In December she will be the alto soloist for Handel’s Messiah in Worcester, Massachusetts and in New York City. She will perform with the Worcester Chorus at Mechanics Hall, directed by Dr. Christopher Shepard and St Thomas Episcopal Church, Fifth Avenue in New York City, directed by Dr. Jeremy Filsell.
On the operatic stage, Ms. Taylor’s roles have included Marcellina and Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, La Badessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Sally in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, and Francisco in the world premier of Bruce Saylor’s The Image Maker. She performed ‘Se Romeo’ from Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria.
Most recently she has started to perform Dramatic and Wagnerian roles and has performed Schwertleite from Die Walküre with the Berlin Dramatic Voices Program and the role of Second Norn in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung and Laura in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda with the New York Dramatic Voices program. In the summer of 2023 she will be debuting the role of Waltraute with the Boston Wagner Institute. In 2022 she joined the chorus and comprimario roster of the Boston Lyric Opera.
Born in England, Sarah Rose Taylor grew up in a rich musical choral tradition, singing in many of England’s Cathedrals with the Royal School of Church Music’s Southern Cathedral Singers. Since moving to the USA, she has been a member of several professional choirs in New York City, Charleston, SC and Boston, MA. Ms Taylor has a Master’s degree and an Artist Diploma in Vocal Performance from The Aaron Copland School of Music in New York City where she studied with Sherry Overholt. She continues private study with Metropolitan Opera singer, Jennifer Rowley and has also studied with Neil Semer, and Dramatic Soprano, Barbara Quintiliani. She coaches with former Metropolitan Opera conductor, Steven Crawford. She also has degrees in French Studies from the British Institute in Paris and a Maîtrise in French Language Teaching from La Sorbonne, Paris.
