Sarah Aristidou
Described by critics as ​‘extraordinary’ with ​‘flawless technique’, French-Cypriot soprano Sarah Aristidou is considered a rising star and has already worked with several major conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle and François-Xavier Roth. An award-winning interpreter of the evolving contemporary repertoire, she is the first ever singer to win the 2022 Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music and was also awarded the Luitpold Prize for outstanding performance by a newcomer at the 2021 Kissinger Sommer Festival. She has twice been nominated for Opernwelt’s ​“Best Newcomer” award, for her performances of Christian Jost’s Die arabische Nacht (2016) and Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus (2019).

In 2022/23, Aristidou makes her debut at Semperoper Dresden under Omer Meir Wellber as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos – a signature role which she debuted at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where she was originally a member of the Opera Studio, and which also served as her debut with Oper Frankfurt. Aristidou also makes her house debut at Bayerische Staatsoper, in a new production of Hosokawa’s Hanjo, before returning to Staatsoper unter den Linden as Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. In demand as a concert artist, Aristidou joins the WDRSinfonieorchester Köln twice this season in Orff’s Carmina Burana under Cristian Măcelaru and for Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre under Roderick Cox, and appears with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki.

An enthusiastic champion of new music, this season sees Aristidou with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland for Abrahamsen’s Let me tell you led by Duncan Ward, with the Staatskapelle Berlin for George Benjamin’s Mind of Fire under Finnegan Downie Dear, and performing works by Jörg Widmann at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper with Ensemble Modern. In her industrious career to date, Aristidou’s contemporary repertoire has expanded to include the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s The Living Mountain with Asko Schönberg at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and in recording with the Münchener Kammerorchester, Dallapiccola’s Ulisse with Oper Frankfurt, Lucia Rochetti’s Pinocchio with Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Thomas Larcher’s Das Jagdgewehr in co-production with Bregenzer Festspiele and Aldeburgh Festival, and Morton Feldman’s Neither with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien at Salzburger Festspiele.

Aristidou’s interpretive skills have inspired composers to write for her, including Aribert Reimann’s Cinq fragments lyriques, which she premiered with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin led by Robin Ticciati, and Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth IV, premiered by the Boulez Ensemble, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

On Scandinavian stages, Aristidou earned particular acclaim last season: she debuted with the Bergen Symphony Orchestra as Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor, performed Ismene (Mitridate) in co-production at both the Royal Danish and Malmö operas, and she joined the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in a solo programme of Stravinsky, Delage, and Saint-Saëns with conductor Corinna Niemeyer. Further collaborations include Edgard Varèse Offrandes marking her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic under François-Xavier Roth, Arnold Schӧnberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Matthias Pintscher’s With Lilies White with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks conducted by the composer himself and both Bach’s St John Passion and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Gürzenich-Orchester Köln led by Music Director François-Xavier Roth.

In 2021 Aristidou released her debut album, ÆTHER, on Alpha Classics, featuring a collaboration with Thomas Guggeis and the Orchester des Wandels. The album includes collaborations with Daniel Barenboim, Emmanuel Pahud and Christian Rivet in a programme which ranges from Handel to Varèse to the premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth V. She also released her first EP S’AGAPO, combining Cypriot folksongs with electro music, in collaboration with composer Kaan Bulak as well as DJs Ricardo Villalobos and Ale Hop, on Feral Note.