SarahDufresne
Contact
Vincent Turp
Representation
About Sarah
Canadian soprano Sarah Dufresne was a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House from 2022-2024 and was named as an Associate Artist of The Mozartists for the 2023-2024 season.
Named as one of Canada’s Top 30 Classical Musicians Under 30 in 2022, Sarah's recent performances at the Royal Opera House include Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Hirt (Tannhäuser), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), Voce dal Cielo (I and Tusnelda (Arminio). Other recent performances include Carmina Burana with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Rafael Payare, and Nora (Riders to the Sea) with the Montreal Opera. She has also performed with companies and orchestras across Canada, including Orchestre de l’Agora, Ottawa Choral Society and with Orchestre Métropolitain.
In 2022 Sarah was awarded the Second Prize (Aria division) at the Concours Musical International de Montréal and was praised for her “tremendous dramatic presence,” and “astonishing clarity and vocal dexterity” (Opera Canada).
Representation
Season Highlights
Video
CMIM Voice 2022 Semifinal - Sarah Dufresne
Sarah Dufresne - Semifinal Aria division Concours musical international de Montréal, OSM Jacques Lacombe June 2022 Credit: Concours musical international de Montréal
PlayingSarah Dufresne - CMIM Voice 2022 - Final
Sarah Dufresne: Final round of the Aria division of the Concours musical international de Montréal, OSM Jacques Lacombe June 2022 Credit: Concours musical international de Montréal
PlayingSarah Dufresne - Mozart - Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio!
Sarah Dufresne Orchestre Métropolitain Nicolas Ellis Place des Arts, Montreal June 2021 Credit: Orchestre Métropolitain
Playing
Photos
Selected Repertoire
| Bernstein | Candide (Cunegonde) |
|---|---|
| Bizet | Carmen (Frasquita) |
| Britten | Albert Herring (Miss Wordsworth) • A Midsummer's Dream (Tytania) • Rape of Lucretia (Lucia) |
| Donizetti | L’elisir d'amore (Adina, Giannetta) |
| Handel | Acis and Galatea (Galatea) • Alcina (Morgana) • Ariodante (Ginevra) • Armino (Tusnelda) • Jephtha (Iphis) |
| Humperdinck | Hansel and Gretel (Dew Fairy) |
| Janacek | Cunning Little Vixen (Vixen) |
| Lizée | No One's Safe (Rebecca Marshall) |
| Massenet | Werther (Sophie) |
| Mozart | Die Zauberflote (Pamina), (Papagena) • Don Giovanni (Zerlina) • La Clemenza di Tito (Servilia) • Le Nozze di Figaro (Barbarina) |
| Puccini | La rondine (Yvette) |
| Ravel | L’enfant et les sortileges (The Nightingale) |
| Thomas | Hamlet (Ophélie) |
| Vaughan Williams | Riders to the Sea (Nora) |
| Verdi | Don Carlo (Voce dal cielo) • Rigoletto (Gilda) |
| Wagner | Tannhauser (Shepherd) |
| Weill | Street Scene (Mrs. Fiorentino) |
News
Press
Hamlet (Ophélie)
Montreal OperaNov 2024 - Nov 2024La salle n’a fini par avoir d’yeux que pour elle : Sarah Dufresne, de Niagara Falls. Pour mettre en perspective ce qui s’est passé samedi soir, jamais en vingt ans sur cette scène nous n’avons entendu pareille chose. Aucune Traviata, Tosca, Norma, Mimi, aucun Don Giovanni, Otello ou Falstaff ne restera dans notre mémoire comme « l’Ophélie de Sarah Dufresne en 2024 ». Un choc pareil équivaut à la première rencontre musicale en scène avec Edita Gruberova, dans Traviata jadis à Vienne, Natalie Dessay, en Olympia des Contes d’Hoffmann à Paris, ou Sabine Devieilhe, plus récemment. Un « choc » n’est pas que musical. Il tient à l’intelligence du rôle, à la manière de donner un ton à celui-ci, à l’intelligence de la prononciation du chant français. Sarah Dufresne chantant Ophélie, ce n’est pas seulement une voix éblouissante et facile, une justesse remarquable, c’est aussi un travail de juste couleur sur chaque syllabe, chaque inflexion du texte, un travail qui ne se ressent jamais comme tel.
- Chritophe Huss, Le Devoir
- 17 November 2024
Of these, the mad scene alone was worth the price of admission. Soprano Sarah Dufresne was indescribably compelling as Ophélie. For an entire act, one fifth of the opera, she held the audience in her grasp with profound dramatic conviction and crisp, weightless, piercing coloratura. Her sincere, grounded performances in Ophélie’s previous scenes made the character’s death feel devastating.
- Ariadne Lih, Opera Canada
- 19 November 2024
Her impressive vocal prowess, coupled with a superbly honed dramatic talent, were abundantly evident. Undoubtedly the high point of this performance was the Act 4 depiction of Ophélie's descent into madness and her subsequent suicide. The extreme coloratura demands require a soprano with extraordinary vocal agility and Dufresne rose to the challenge, Ophélie's sense of anguish palpable. The audience reacted with an outburst that was both effusive and protracted.
- Ian Cochrane, Bachtrack
- 17 November 2024
It turned out to be a triumph. For a moment, we thought we were reliving the golden age of opera, when legendary sopranos reigned from high above with the world at their feet. What was most striking was Dufresne’s vocal stamina and the seal of quality she gave at all times, not only in Act 4’s great mad scene, but everywhere else. First proof came early in Act 2, where Dufresne easily matched the international calibre of Karine Deshayes singing Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother.
- Justin Bernard, La Scena Musicale
- 21 November 2024