Sarah Ampil・Soprano

About

Sarah Ampil is an award-winning operatic soprano, who recently relocated to the United Kingdom from her hometown of Sydney, Australia. A recipient of the Joan Sutherland Memorial Award and the Opera Australia Opportunity Award, her operatic credits include Sandrina (La Finta Giardiniera) for Operantics; Micaëla (Carmen) for Central Coast Opera; Ginevra (Ariodante) for the Apollo Opera Collective in conjunction with the Sydney Baroque Music Festival; and Young Woman/Wife/Old Woman in the Australian premiere of Miss Brill with the Omega Ensemble as part of the Art Gallery of NSW’s “Resonate” series.

A keen interpreter of oratorio, art song and concert repertoire, Sarah has been engaged as a featured artist with various ensembles, including the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Central Coast Philharmonic, Cheshire Choral Society, Box Hill Chorale, and Hawkes Bay Orchestra, with whom she made her New Zealand debut in 2019 as soloist for Britten’s Les Illuminations. She has also performed regularly with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, appearing in their popular Noël! Noël! Christmas series for several years, as well as their debut opera production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo as part of Brisbane Festival, with additional performances in Sydney and Melbourne.

Sarah recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the guidance of Professor Eiddwen Harrhy. During her time at RNCM, she appeared as Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and Lisette in La Rondine (opera scenes), undertook two Artist Residencies with Opera North as a Leverhulme Arts Scholar, appeared as a finalist in both the 2022 Frederic Cox Award and Concerto Competition, and performed in masterclasses led by Susan Bullock CBE and David Owen Norris. She was also part of the RNCM Opera Chorus in the Hallé Orchestra’s 2022 season finale gala production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

Sarah has been fortunate to work with several accomplished conductors, mentors and coaches through a variety of initiatives, including the WAAPA International Art Song Academy, the New Zealand Singing School and masterclasses with Renée Fleming and Jessica Pratt. She has previously won the Shoalhaven, Penrith and Northern Beaches Aria Championships across NSW, Australia, and was a semifinalist in the 2016 Australian Singing Competition.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Music from The University of New South Wales, and a Master of Music Studies (Performance) and Graduate Diploma in Music (Opera Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She is an alumna of the Pacific Opera Young Artists Program and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School.

In the 2022-23 season, Sarah is generously supported by the Opera Awards Foundation.

With a tight ensemble cast of seven characters, every performer is relied on for star turns and there is not a weak link amongst them... Sarah Ampil as Sandrina lends gravitas to the heroine's plight

Review: Operantics presents LA FINTA GIARDINIERA (Weekend Notes)