SOPHIE SPARROW

Hailing from Whangārei, New Zealand, soprano Sophie Sparrow is currently on the Royal Academy Opera Programme as a Royal Academy of Music Scholar, Countess of Munster Trust and Kiwi Music Trust awardee. She is training with Kate Paterson and Marcus van den Akker. Sophie recently graduated with a Master of Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and holds a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) in Classical Voice Performance and a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Otago.
In 2019, Sophie’s first year in London, she made her Wigmore Hall concert debut performing the world premiere of ‘Remembering the Future’ by Guildhall composer Daniel Davis written for her and countertenor Nils Wanderer. She first sung at Wigmore Hall in a masterclass working with world renowned South Korean soprano, Sumi Jo. In May 2019, Sophie made her German debut performing First Witch in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Maulbronn Monastery Music Festival. At Guildhall she has performed in song recitals of Debussy and Heinrich Heine settings, alongside several opera scenes including Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Manon (Manon), Marie (La fille du régiment), Gilda (Rigoletto), Morgana (Alcina), Agrippina (Agrippina), and Sidone (Armide). Recent performances include the Guildhall School American Songbook Company, the world premiere of ‘Tell me again the music of that tale’ by Daniel Davis at Milton Court Concert Hall, soloist in concert with the Goodensemble at the Goodenough College Great Hall, and Barbican Hall debut performing Debussy Song’s for the London Symphony Orchestra Platforms with Guildhall Artists. Sophie has performed in masterclasses with Edith Wiens and Ido Ariel.
Sophie is a recipient of a 2019 and 2020 Countess of Munster Trust Award, and placed 1st in the 2019 Dame Malvina Major Foundation Wellington Aria Competition and 3rd in the New Zealand McCormick Opera Award. 2018 saw her as semi-finalist in the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition, and placed 1st in the Ronald Dellow Memorial Vocal Recital and Norah Howell Award. Sophie was also a 2016 Lexus Song Quest Semi-finalist while training with Frances Wilson at the Auckland Opera Studio.
Her operatic roles in New Zealand include Pamina (The Magic Flute) and Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro) with Opera Otaog, and chorus in Carmen and L’elisir d’amore with New Zealand Opera. Oratorio performances include Vivaldi’s Gloria, Poulenc’s Gloria, Saint-Saëns’ Requiem, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor, and Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise.
Upcoming 2020 engagements include the Royal Academy of Music Autumn Opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten) as Tytania.
Sophie would like to thank the Royal Academy of Music, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Kiwi Music Trust, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Behrens Foundation, Auckland Opera Studio, New Zealand Opera Foundation Trust, Wallace Arts Foundation, Dame Malvina Major Foundation, and the Joan Kennaway Scholarship for their support.