Born in County Durham, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow. She was made a CBE in the 2010 New Year Honours.

In opera, her recent appearances have included Purcell's Dido at La Scala, Milan; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at La Monnaie, Brussels; Gluck's Orfeo and the title role in ‘The Rape of Lucretia' at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; the title role in ‘Giulio Cesare' and Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at the Glyndebourne Festival; Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) for Scottish Opera; Nerone (L'Incoronazione di Poppea) at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and at the Liceu in Barcelona and Sesto (Giulio Cesare) at the Paris Opera. In the U.S. she has sung Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Annio (La clemenza di Tito) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the title role in ‘Ariodante' and Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) for New York City Opera and Ino and Juno (Semele) in San Francisco.

A favourite at ENO, her roles there have included Octavian; Handel's Agrippina, Xerxes, Ariodante and Ruggiero (Alcina); the title role in ‘The Rape of Lucretia'; Dido (Dido and Aeneas / The Trojans); Romeo, Susie (The Silver Tassie) and Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) - for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Her future engagements include her debut at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and returns to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Paris Opera, the Liceu in Barcelona and to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

She has appeared in recital in London and New York and her many concert engagements include appearances at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lucerne and Tanglewood Festivals, the BBC Proms, and at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with many of the world's great orchestras and conductors.

She has recorded prolifically and twice been nominated for a Grammy Award.