French-Japanese-American soprano Sarah Hayashi is probably the one of a few professional sopranos trained in sterile cell culture techniques and antibody development in addition to her singing career. This season, she will make her house and role debut at the Staatstheater Cottbus singing Der Hahn in Attila Kadri Şedil’s children’s opera Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten. She is also looking forward to singing the soprano solo in Humperdinck’s Dornröschen with Singakademie Dresden at the Lukaskirche in Dresden, Mozart’s Requiem in D minor with Ev.-Luth. Kirche gemeinde Riesa, and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 with Studio Chor Berlin at the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonic. 

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Sarah made her German debut in 2021 at Theater Erfurt where she has performed Susanna and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, Findus in Ramdohr’s opera Petersson und Findus, Tante Edla/Jiri in Leipold’s Mio Mein Mio, Adele in Die Rache der Fledermaus, as well as Aufseherin Elektra. During the pandemic, Sarah sang the role of Le Feu in the critically-acclaimed, award-winning film of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges produced by Vopera with the London Philharmonic. Other roles include Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Bronx Opera, Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Bare Opera in New York City, Despina in Così fan tutte for Seastar Opera, Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann with Arbor Opera Company Michigan, and Euridice in Orphée aux Enfers with Bel Cantanti Opera and Bearwood Opera.

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She is a recipient of the Selma D. Fisher Award and was a finalist in the Handel Singing Competition in London in 2015, a semi-finalist in the 2016 and 2023 International Singing Competiton for Baroque Opera «Pietro Antonio Cesti», a second place winner in the 2018 Handel Aria Competition in Madison, Wisconsin, and a semi-finalist in the 2021 Concours Corneille International Baroque Singing Competition in Normandy. 

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Sarah is a founding member of the Chaconne Ensemble. The ensemble is a unique, versatile, and vibrant ensemble comprised of a soprano, baroque cello and harpsichord continuo. They specialize in chamber music for solo voice and continuo of the 17th and 18th-centuries. The Ensemble won both the Century Fund and Richard III Prize at the Royal College of Music Early Music Competition in 2015, as well as performed extensively with highlights being a concert for the Handel & Hendrix House in London, and being invited to perform at the Utrecht Early Music Fringe Festival. In 2023, Chaconne Ensemble was selected as one of six ensembles to participate in the Handel Competition at the International Händel Festspiele Göttingen. 

 

Sarah earned her Bachelors and Masters in Music at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and obtained a Master of Performance degree from the Royal College of Music in London, and a Masters of Art degree from the Wales International Academy of Voice.