Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow. She was made CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List. In 2011 she was honoured by the Incorporated Society of Musicians and presented with the Distinguished Musician Award and she is the recipient of the the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2012 Singer Award. Notable highlights on the operatic stage have included Fricka Das Rheingold & Die Walküre (Covent Garden); Dido Dido & Aeneas (La Scala); Komponist Ariadne auf Naxos (Metropolitan Opera); Phèdre Hippolyte et Aricie (Paris Opera); the title role in Giulio Cesare and Brangäne Tristan und Isolde (Glyndebourne Festival); Sesto La clemenza di Tito and the title role in Ariodante (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence); Octavian Der Rosenkavalier, Charpentier’s Médée and Didon Les Troyens for the English National Opera; Gluck’s Orfeo (Bayerische Staatsoper); the title role in Maria Stuarda (Opera North) and Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea and the title role in Agrippina (Gran Teatro del Liceu). Much in demand on the concert platform for the great lyric mezzo repertory she has appeared at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg, Tanglewood and Three Choirs Festivals and at the BBC Proms where, in 2009, she was a memorable guest soloist at the Last Night. She is a prolific recording artist, twice nominated for a Grammy Award. Fantasio is Sarah’s first recording with Opera Rara.