New Zealand-born mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle has been gaining attention for her committed and idiomatic performances of a wide-ranging repertoire spanning over three-and-a-half centuries of different styles and composers. Based in the UK, she has developed an ongoing relationship with London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where she debuted in 2001 as Tisbe in "Cenerentola" and has gone on to sing a variety of roles, including the Wagner roles of Flosshilde and Siegrune in Keith Warner’s production of "Der Ring des Nibelungen".
A seasoned interpreter of Wagnerian repertoire, she has performed at the Bayreuth Festival (Wellgunde and Grimgerde in the "Ring"), Bavarian State Opera (Flosshilde in the "Ring"), Maggio Musicale (Siegrune in "Die Walküre", conducted by Zubin Mehta) and State Opera of South Australia (Flowermaiden in "Parsifal", conducted by Jeffrey Tate). In concert performances she has appeared as Siegrune with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles for her BBC Proms debut, Waltraute in "Die Walküre" with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and both in "Parsifal" and Waltraute with the Hallé Orchestra. She continued her foray into Wagner with Fricka in "Das Rheingold" with the Birmingham Philharmonic, First Norn, Waltraute and Flosshilde in "Götterdämmerung" with Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Fricka in Tianjin (China), Flosshilde and Siegrune for Opera North and Waltraute in concert with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden.
Sarah Castle’s repertoire embraces the work of living composers, both in the opera house and the concert hall. On the operatic stage she has performed the title role of Tan Dun’s "Marco Polo" (Dutch National Opera), Elektra in Manfred Trojahn’s "Orest" (Netherlands Opera) Nancy Tang in John Adam's "Nixon in China" (San Diego Opera) and the Swiss Grandmother in "The Death of Klinghoffer" with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. On the concert platform she has performed Michel van der Aa’s "Spaces of Blank" (Amsterdam) and Mark Anthony Turnage’s "Twice Through the Heart" (with Manchester’s Psappha Ensemble).
In the classical operatic repertoire, Sarah Castle’s repertoire include the trouser roles of the heroes of the Baroque and Classical literature (Nerone in "L'incoronazione di Poppea", title role in Handel’s "Teseo", Teseo in "Arianna in Creta", Ruggiero in "Alcina", Sesto in "Giulio Cesare", Andronico in "Tamerlano", Idamante in "Idomeneo", Annio in "La clemeza di Tito" and the passionate young men of the Romantic repertoire (Smeton in "Anna Bolena", Siebel in "Faust", Nicklausse in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann", Stephano in "Roméo et Juliette", Komponist in "Ariadne auf Naxos", Beppe in "L'amico Fritz"). Her female portrayals include such varied women as Purcell’s Dido, Olga in "Eugene Onegin", Emilia in "Otello", Lola in Cavalleria rusticana", Madame Dangeville in "Adriana Lecouvreur", Marchesa Melibea in "Il viaggio a Reims", the title role of "La Cenerentola" and the title role of "Carmen".
Sarah Castle has appeared with many of the major opera companies and orchestras of Europe (Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bayreuth Festival, Opera di Firenze’s Maggio Musicale, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, Grand Theatre Warsaw, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Opéra de Lausanne, Teatro Real Madrid, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Dutch Radio Philharmonic, Edinburgh International Festival, La Chapelle Royale), the United States (San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Philadelphia, San Diego Opera, the Spoleto Festival USA), Asia (Hong Kong Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony Orchestra), Oceania (Opera New Zealand, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, State Opera South Australia) and Israel (Israeli Opera).
Recent engagements for Sarah Castle include La Contessa di Coigny in "Andrea Chénier" at Oper Zurich, Ino/Juno in "Semele" and the title-role in "La Cenerentola" with New Zealand Opera, Gertrud/Knusperhexe in "Hansel und Gretel" and Griet’s Mother in "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" for Oper Zurich, Hannah Pitt in "Angels in America" with the New York City Opera, the Swiss Grandmother in "The Death of Klinghoffer" at the Concertgebouw, Emilia in "Otello" with the Auckland Philharmonic, and a return to the Royal Opera House as Flora in "La Traviata". She performed the role of Portia in the posthumous Polish premiere of André Tchaikovsky in "The Merchant of Venice" with the Polish National Opera and reprised this role in the work’s British premiere with Welsh National Opera and its ensuing premiere at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Upcoming engagements include Theseus’ Mother in Jonathan Dove’s "The Monster in the Maze" for New Zealand Opera.