British-Italian mezzo Sara Fulgoni, ‘the fiercest Fricka…in the last 50 years’ (Michael Tanner, The Spectator) has performed at the major opera and concert venues of the world in a huge variety of repertoire, all to critical acclaim. The full, rich and lustrous quality of her voice, as well as her remarkable stage presence, have distinguished her operatic performances. Recent and forthcoming performances include Mistress Quickly Falstaff at Grange Park Opera; Marfa Khovanshchina and The Mother Il Prigioniero for Welsh National Opera; Zita Gianni Schicchi on film for Grange Park Opera; Auntie Peter Grimes and Duchess of York in Batistelli’s Richard III at Teatro La Fenice; Beroe in Hans Werner Henze’s Die Bassariden with Orquesta Nacional de España in Madrid under Kent Nagano and at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Mahler Symphony No.3 under Andrew Litton with the Bergen Philharmonic; Brangäne Tristan und Isolde at Grange Park Opera; Forester’s Wife The Cunning Little Vixen at La Monnaie/De Munt; and Fricka Die Walküre for Grange Park Opera’s inaugural season at West Horsley Place.

Named ‘the Carmen of the decade’ by the Daily Telegraph, Sara Fulgoni has sung much of the great mezzo repertoire. She has sung the role for Santa Fe Opera, Toulouse (under Michel Plasson), the Palau de les Arts Valencia (under Lorin Maazel), Grand Théâtre de Genève, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and at the Beijing Music Festival, where she became the first western interpreter of the role to be presented in the capital of China since the Cultural Revolution.

Now adding more dramatic roles to her broad repertoire, notable appearances include Waltraute Götterdämmerung with De Vlaamse Opera and English National Opera; Kundry Parsifal for Welsh National Opera conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; Judith Bluebeard’s Castle with the Canadian Opera Company, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Welsh National Opera; the Sorceress Dido And Aeneas at La Scala and the Royal Opera House under Christopher Hogwood (Opus Arte DVD); Maddalena Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House, La Monnaie, Opera National du Rhin and English National Opera; Penelope Il Ritorno d’Ulisse In Patria with the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Royal Danish Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Welsh National Opera; Juno in Semele at Opernhaus Zürich and De Vlaamse Opera; and Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress in Rome with Daniele Gatti and at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

Sara created the title role in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s opera Thérèse Raquin at Dallas Opera (also recorded for Chandos) and Nicholas Lens’ Shellshock, A Requiem of War at La Monnaie in Brussels.  The performance marked 100 years since the 1918 armistice, and was broadcasted live on Arte TV. She has also appeared in recital at Haileybury where she gave the premiere performance of a new song cycle by Ben Parry. Other highlights have included Hansel Hansel and Gretel and Amando Le Grand Macabre with San Francisco Opera; the title role in The Rape Of Lucretia for Vara Radio in Amsterdam, De Vlaamse Opera and for Radio France; Diana La Calisto under Rene Jacobs in Montpellier, Lyon and Salzburg; Marguerite La Damnation De Faust with the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York; Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice in La Coruna and Valladolid; Beatrice Beatrice Et Benedict at De Nederlandse Opera and with the Welsh National Opera.

A committed concert artist, Sara has worked with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Riccardo Chailly, the late Richard Hickox, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Josep Pons, Jukka-Pekka Sarastre and the late Giuseppe Sinopoli. She has sung both Mahler Symphony No. 8 and Urlicht from Das Knaben Wunderhorn with the Royal Concertebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly, both of which were also recorded by Decca.  She performed John Adams’ El Nino in concert with the Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra.  In recital Sara has appeared at the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, the Montreux-Vevey Festival and in the Chatelet’s Midis-Musicaux series.

Her many recordings include the Cherubini Mass In D Minor with Riccardo Muti at La Scala for EMI, Suor Angelica for EMI under Antonio Pappano, Elijah for Decca under Paul Daniel after performances at the Edinburgh Festival, Handel’s Dixit Dominus under Marc Minkowski for Archiv, Ned Rorem’s The Santa Fe Songs with Chamber Domaine for Black Box and Welcome To The Voice with Sting for DG.  She also took part in the acclaimed television series entitled ‘The Genius of Beethoven’ for the BBC. Sara sings regularly with Welsh National Opera where her roles have included Le Prince Charmant Cendrillon, Orlovsky Die Fledermaus, Fenena Nabucco, and Ulrica, Un ballo in maschera. She also appears regularly with Grange Park Opera where she has sung the title role in Rinaldo, Adalgisa Norma, Clairon Capriccio, Paulina Queen Of Spades, Suzuki Madama Butterfly, Mere Marie Dialogues Des Carmélites, Dulcinée Don Quichotte and Dalila Samson et Dalila.

A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, where she was supported by the Peter Moores Foundation, Sara Fulgoni is the recipient of numerous awards including second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 1993.