Acclaimed for her “rich mezzo” (South Florida Classical Review) and as an “engaging and convincing actor”, Sarah Austin is a singing actress who is passionate about accessibility in the arts.
Sarah recently played Hansel in a touring production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel with Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s OperaTots! program, which brings children’s opera and music education to local schools. She also performs frequently with Azure Family Concerts, who provide sensory-friendly interactive concerts to children on the autism spectrum.
This year, she was the recipient of the Marge and Jim Hewett Encouragement Award at the Nebraska district of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. In the 2025-26 season, she looks forward to being a Filstrup Resident Artist with Tulsa Opera, where she will perform the role of Kate and cover the role of Ruth for The Pirates of Penzance.
Although Sarah enjoys performing works from across history, she specializes in music by living composers. She was recently invited to return to the Miami Music Festival as an alumni artist to sing the role of Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. The production was viewed and given high praise by Mr. Heggie himself.
While pursuing her master’s degree in vocal performance at Carnegie Mellon University, she sang the lead role of Dorothy in Kamala Sankaram’s provocative, techno noir opera Looking at You and appeared as a featured soloist in a fully staged production of Craig Hella Johnson’s poignant oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard. In her master’s recital, she premiered the song cycle Odysseus on Aeaea by CMU composition student Emma Berkowitz. Sarah also performed with the CMU contemporary ensemble as a vocalist in Brittany J. Green’s r_upTure and Julius Eastman’s Stay On It.
Equally at home on the concert and operatic stages, Sarah made her professional debut in 2022 as a soloist with the Big Spring Symphony Orchestra in Texas. While she was a young artist at the Miami Music Festival, Sarah was selected to perform with the festival’s orchestra for their annual Independence Day concert. She also had the opportunity to perform with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic as the alto soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria and as the Recitante in Debussy’s La damoiselle élue alongside her vocal pedagogy Professor Jennifer Aylmer. While a member of the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, Sarah appeared as a featured soloist in both opera and musical theater concerts.
Sarah’s opera roles include Little Buttercup in H.M.S Pinafore (Pittsburgh Savoyards), Smeton in Anna Bolena (Resonance Works), the title role in L’enfant et les Sortilèges (Miami Music Festival), Dorabella* in Così fan tutte (Carnegie Mellon Opera), Antonia’s Mother in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (SERIO Opera), The Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe (Pittsburgh Savoyards), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (FIO Italia), Suor Infermiera in Suor Angelica (FIO Italia), Idamante* in Idomeneo (FIO Italia), il Paggio in Rigoletto (Resonance Works), La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi (Janiec Opera Company at Brevard), Dido in Dido and Aeneas (Davidson College), Olga in Eugene Onegin (Russian Opera Workshop), and Prince Orlofsky* in Die Fledermaus (Davidson College).
*indicates cover or partial role
Sarah currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA, where she is a member of the Pittsburgh Opera Chorus. She is also a choral scholar and soloist at the historic Trinity Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh. She maintains a private voice and piano studio through Cindy’s School of Dance and Music. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, cross stitching, and trying to keep her plants alive. She is a student of Dan Teadt.