British soprano born in Winchester, Hampshire, on April 10, 1953, Sarah Leonard is known for her interpretations of traditional English melodies and her commitment to contemporary music. Trained at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she began her career with the BBC Singers and the Endymion Ensemble. She was subsequently noticed for her performances in Michael Nyman's operas The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1988), Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea conducted by Richard Hickox, with Arleen Auger, Della Jones and James Bowman, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, under the baton of Trevor Pinnock, before turning her attention to contemporary music. In 1989, she made her debut at La Scala in Milan with the premiere of Giacomo Manzoni's Doctor Faustus, and went on to work with composers Pierre Boulez, Alexander Goehr, Henry Gorecki, Alfred Schnittke, Morton Feldman, Jonathan Harvey, Howard Skempton, Pascal Dusapin, Harrison Birtwistle, György Ligeti and Helmut Lachenmann. Alongside her career as an artist, the soprano teaches at London University's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. She is also a director of the Association of English Singers and Speakers. After collaborating with Elvis Costello on John Harle's 1997 album Terror & Magnificence, she reunited with the composer for the 2014 album The Tyburn Tree (Dark London), a collaboration with singer Marc Almond. She also performs the repertoire of English melodies on the three volumes of A Century of English Songs (2014), with pianist Malcolm Martineau. In June 2024, she was honored by King Charles III with the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). On October 31, 2024, Sarah Leonard died of a brain tumor, aged 71.
