S4 E13: The Nero Monologues with Sarah Toth
Sarah Toth is a performer and writer who uses singing, spoken word, and improvisation within opera to courageously tell stories of truth, vision, and possibility. Through collaborations in music-based theater, Sarah seeks to bring healing, inspire dreams, and empower people to walk boldly forward in their own personal story.
In this episode Stephen talks with Sarah about her opera The Nero Monologues and her involvement in creating new and experimental music-based theater.
With extensive operatic stage experience in America, Australia, and Europe, Sarah has performed numerous lyric soprano roles, and also a range of world premieres and experimental pieces. Highlights include singing the roles of Donna Elvira, Countess, Mimì, Donna Anna, Second Lady, Offenbach’s Eurydice, and Cimarosa’s Elisetta; performing in Strauss’s Elektra with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; singing oratorio classics such as Messiah, Elijah, and Carmina Burana; and creating roles in Sydney Chamber Opera’s premieres of Mayakovsky and Victory Over the Sun (for the 2016 Sydney Biennale.) Sarah’s collaborative work in creating new and experimental music-based theater has been featured in London’s Opera in the City Festival, Australia’s SHH Centre 4 Hybrid Arts, and also in unique sacred and historical spaces world-wide. She has been recognized in vocal competitions in America and Australia, and has been awarded prize and study grant money by the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation. This year, Marble City Opera hosted the U.S. premiere Nero Monologues - a chamber opera created by Sarah in collaboration with composer Peter James Learn and poet Geoffrey Lehmann - in a new immersive production at Candoro Marble.
Prior to classical singing, Sarah trained in a multi-lingual environment as a flautist in Hungary at the Franz Liszt Music School. Raised in a family of musicians and athletes, Sarah first found her voice as a singer/songwriter, while also undertaking training as an ice hockey player. After a liberal arts undergraduate education in sociology and music at Greenville College, Sarah earned Masters Degrees in Vocal Performance at Ithaca College and later in Opera Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
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Featured Music: Daniel Birch Lobo Loco
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