Sarah Aristidou

Source: Harrison Parrott

French soprano and agile coloratura, Sarah Aristidou is a gifted singer, vocally serene in classical, contemporary and folk music, as well as live improvisations. She ranks as one of the most innovative and creative artists of her generation and in 2022, she became the first singer to receive the Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music.
Sarah’s recording projects reflect her artistic vision—a shared silence born from the vastness of an authentic, resonant note. Her debut album AETHER (2021), together with Thomas Guggeis, Orchester des Wandels and special guests Daniel Barenboim, Emmanuel Pahud and Christian Rivet, was nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award and featured composers ranging from Handel to Varèse AS WELL AS Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth V (Alpha Classics).  Her wider discography includes her second solo release, Enigma (2023, Alpha Classics), which was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, as well as Thomas Larcher’s The Living Mountain (ECM), S’Agapo with Kaan Bulak (Feral Note) and Max Cooper’s EP Seme, which was performed as part of the Salzburg 2024 Easter Festival.
An intense and committed actress, in recent breakthrough performances of Ligeti’s Le Grande Macabre, Aristidou made lasting impact as Venus and Gepopo in two acclaimed new productions, marking her debut at Wiener Staatsoper under Pablo Heras-Casado, and at Bayerische Staatsoper, conducted by Kent Nagano.  As Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, she has appeared at Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper unter den Linden, Oper Frankfurt and Semperoper Dresden, and as Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate, she joined productions in Copenhagen, Malmö and Berlin, the latter conducted by Marc Minkowski.  Sarah Aristidou received exceptional reviews for her performances both as Shoko in the world-premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Das Jagdgewehr in co-production with Bregenzer Festspiele and Aldeburgh Festival and as Hanako, marking her debut at Bayerische Staatsoper, in a collaborative production between choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija of Toshio Hosokawa’s Hanjo. Further world premiere performances include Aristidou’s debut at Opernhaus Zürich in the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s Das Grosse Feuer, creating the role of Aquella Muchacha.
On the concert platform, Aristidou recently debuted with The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst for her first performances of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and made her BBC Proms debut with Ensemble Intercontemporain and Pierre Bleuse performing Berio’s Recital I for Cathy, which she also performed with Spectra Ensemble at BOZAR, alongside Berberian’s Stripsody. Further concert highlights included a tour of Boulez’s Pli selon Pli with Les Siècles and Franck Ollu in Tourcoing, Paris, Munich and Baden-Baden, Boulez’s Le Soleil des Eaux with Juraj Valčuha and Orchestre National de France. With Orchestre de Paris, she performed Fauré’s Requiem under Klaus Mäkelä, with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra she sang Orff’s Carmina Burana under Aziz Shokhakimov and, conducted by the composer, she performed Jörg Widmann’s Versuch über die Fuge with Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona.
In the 25/26 season, Aristidou revives Venus/Gepopo in Le Grand Macabre at Wiener Staatsoper under Pablo Heras-Casado, in concert with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Nicholas Collon at the Helsinki Festival, and to open Musikfest Berlin 2026 where she also reunites with WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and Kent Nagano for Yvonne Loriod’s La Sainte Face. On the concert stage, Sarah Aristidou continues touring Boulez Pli selon Pli and Debussy Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé with Les Siècles and Frank Ollu in Bucharest and Berlin, joins Ensemble Intercontemporain for Berio’s Folksongs with Vimbayi Kaziboni, and joins players of l’Orchestre de Paris and pianist Kunal Lahiry for a programme of Ravel and Delage at Montfort L’Amaury. Aristidou later joins pianist Alessio Bax for a series of recitals as part of the London Festival of Chamber Music at Smith Square Hall, performs Max Richter’s Voices at Southbank Centre with Philharmonia Orchestra under Matthew Lynch, and reunites with Ensemble Modern for Unsuk Chin’s Akrostichon-Wortspiel at Prague Spring Festival as well as for Dusapin’s Passion at Salzburger Festspiele, the latter conducted by Franck Ollu. 
Aristidou’s voice has inspired several compositions including Aribert Reimann’s Cinq fragments lyriques, premiered with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Robin Ticciati and Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth IV, presented with Boulez Ensemble and Daniel Barenboim.  She made an acclaimed debut at Salzburger Festspiele in Morton Feldman’s Neither with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien under Roland Kluttig, returning last season with both Klangforum Wien with Beat Furrer conducting his own composition, Begehren, and Georg Friedrich Haas’ Koma under Bas Wiegers.  With Berliner Philharmoniker, she debuted in Edgard Varèse‘s Offrandes and, in a special project entitled ‘Transfiguré – 12 vies de Schönberg’, Artistidou debuted with Orchestre de Paris under Ariane Matiakh. Additional concert highlights include Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Masaaki Suzuki, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Gürzenich-Orchester under Roth, and Bach’s St John’s Passion with Akademie für Alte Musik under Justin Doyle.  Artistidou has debuted many new works including Brett Dean’s Ich lausche und ich höre with the Scharoun Ensemble at Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Larcher’s The Living Mountain at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.  With Staatskapelle Berlin and Finnegan Downie Dear, she has presented George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill and Mind of Fire, with WDR Sinfonieorchester under Roderick Cox Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, with Philharmonie Zuidnederland and Duncan Ward Abrahamsen’s Let Me Tell You, with Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin Schӧnberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and, conducted by the composer himself, with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Matthias Pintscher’s With Lilies White.
Aristidou received the Luitpold Prize for Outstanding Performance at the Kissinger Sommer Festival (2021) and has been twice nominated for Opernwelt’s Best Newcomer award. Off stage, Sarah is a talented photographer, capturing the beauty of the surroundings which inspire her as an artist.