The “impressive” (New York Times) and “rich, glowing” (New York Arts) mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone made her Carnegie Hall debut in Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, narrated by Christopher Plummer, and has since appeared in opera and concerts throughout North America, Asia, and Europe.
Ms. Timpone’s upcoming engagements include her return to Carnegie Hall as alto soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with Masterwork Chorus, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Teatro Lirio d’Europa and Miramar Opera Works, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with Florida State University Symphony, and a solo recital at High Center Performing Arts Series at Messiah University. Recent engagements include Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer with Opera Maine, Verdi’s Requiem with Music Worcester and Battenkille Chorale, Mozart’s Requiem with the Tallahassee Community Chorus, Mahler’s Second Symphony with Florida State University Symphony, Suzuki and Marthe in Faust with St. Petersburg Opera. Her first solo CD ‘Songs of Japonisme – Early 20th Century Art Song from Japan and the West’ with pianist Kenneth Merrill, and engineered by GRAMMY-winner Silas Brown, was recently released from London-based record label Sheva Collection and distributed through Naxos.
Notable highlights of previous seasons include appearances under the baton of SeijiOzawa in Elektra with Tokyo Spring Festival (former Tokyo Opera Nomori), Cherubinoin Le nozze di Figaro with Saito Kinen Festival, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and Rosina (cover) in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Seiji Ozawa Ongakujuku Opera. She has also performed Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Syracuse Opera, Nevada Opera, New Rochelle Opera and Opera Camerata of Washington, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Syracuse Opera and West Virginia Symphony, Mercédès in CarmenwithOpera Maine (former PORTopera), Miss Todd in The old maid and the thief with Berkshire Opera, Dorabella in Cosi fan tuttewith Baltimore Opera, and Pitti-Singin Mikado, Maddalena in Rigoletto and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Chautauqua Opera, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, and the New York premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s last opera, Prince of Playerswith the Little Opera Theatre of New York. In 2016 and 2017, she made her Off-Broadway debut to critical acclaim as Ms. Sun-Yi Nam in ¡Figaro 90210! (Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro).
On the concert stage, her past performances include Verdi’s Requiem with New York Choral Society, Beethoven Ninth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and United Nations with New York Symphonic Ensemble and Canadian Symphony Orchestra of NYC, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and Alexander Nevsky with Queensboro Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with Singapore Symphony, and solo engagements with Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, and Sapporo Symphony.
She is also an advocate for new music and art song, and frequently performs in recitals nationally and internationally with appearances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Steinway Hall, Art Song Preservation Society of New York, Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute in Utica, NY, American Musicological Society, Lunigiana International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy, Alion Baltic International Music Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, Tokyo International Vocal Academy, and Equador’s Fundacion Cultural Armonia. Her solo recital credits include Bangkok, Thailand, sponsored by the NomuraCultural Foundation, and Granada, Spain, as a winner of the First Miguel Zanetti International Spanish Song Competition. She is also featured in David Soldier’s new opera Eighth Hour of Amduat (Mulatta Records) as Mistress of the Boat, and in a jazz arrangement of Time to say good-bye in jazz trumpeter James Zollar’s CD, ‘Zollar Systems’ (JZAZ Records).
A native of Tokyo who grew up in Germany and the United States, Ms. Timpone currently serves on the voice faculty at Florida State University and is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music (MM), New England Conservatory (BM), and Rutgers University (DMA) where she received Irene Alm Memorial Prize.