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Sara Schabas

soprano, etc.

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Praised for her “beautifully clear, light lyric soprano” (Ludwig Van), Canadian soprano Sara Schabas performs repertoire from the baroque to the cutting edge on three continents.

 

Nominated for the Dora Award for Outstanding Performance by an Individual, Sara is the 2024 winner of the Wirth Vocal Prize, a previous District Winner and Regional Encouragement Award Winner from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, a three-time laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, and a recent alumna of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium Young Artists. An avid interpreter of new music, she enjoys close collaborations with composers including James Rolfe, Danika Lorèn, Cecilia Livingston, and Amy Brandon.​​​​​​​

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"A young vocal virtuoso"

David Jaeger, The Whole Note

​The 2025/2026 season sees Sara in returns to the Little Opera Company of Winnipeg as Addie in Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek’s The House Without a Christmas Tree, and debuts with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir in British Columbia, the Toronto Beach Chorale, and Winnipeg’s Dead of Winter. On the recital stage, she will be seen in a reprise of her critically acclaimed recital in a dark blue night with the pianist Isabelle David for the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, and in a new collaboration with the pianist Jean Marchand for Montreal's Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur recital series. In the spring, New Focus Records will release her recording of James Rolfe’s O Greenest Branch conducted by David Fallis as well as her performance of Amy Brandon’s The Bond, a song cycle written for her with poems by Miriam Waddington. Her first opera libretto,  an adaptation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market with music by Danika Lorèn, will be workshopped by the University of Toronto Opera School in January.

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Lilacs (Op. 21) - S. Rachmaninoff

Alexey Shafirov, Piano

Pollack Hall, Montreal, 2024

Gottes Engel weichen nie (BWV 149) - J.S. Bach

Daniel Norman, conductor

Church of the Redeemer, Toronto, 2024

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Writings:

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'The right yoga for the right person:' Applying restorative yoga in the voice studio (The Journal of Singing, Vol. 81, n. 3 Jan/Feb. 2025; forthcoming)
an article about how restorative yoga can be a useful tool for classical singers
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Sara Schabas on Emmy Heim (The Sparks and Wiry Cries Podcast, Nov. 2024)
an interview with Martha Guth about the Viennese, naturalized Canadian singer and pedagogue, Emmy Heim
 
Emmy Heim: The Mother of Art Song in Canada (Art Song Canada, Autumn 2023)
an article about Emmy Heim

Spotlight on Rebecca Hass (Opera Canada Magazine, Winter 2022)
a feature on Opera Canada's inaugural Nada Ristich Change Maker recipient

Opera, sustainability and reconciliation (Opera Canada Magazine, Winter 2021)
a portrait of the Canadian opera community's efforts towards sustainability

La voix humaine and mental health (Opera Canada Magazine, Fall 2021)
a look at how opera companies can support singers' mental health

A tribute to Ezra Schabas (Opera Canada Magazine, Spring 2021)
a tribute to Sara's late grandfather, educator, author & musician Ezra Schabas

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Photos by Gaetz Photography, 2024.

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