BIOGRAPHY
In 2026, Canadian soprano Sarah Dufresne's debut at the Canadian Opera company was hailed as “star-making” by the Toronto Star for her role as Gilda in Rigoletto. She has also been praised for her “style and elegance” (Bachtrack) and for the “richness of tone, some angelic high notes and admirable control” (The Arts Desk).
Highlights of her 2026/27 season include joining the Bayerische Staatsoper Ensemble, where she will make role debuts including Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Clorinda in La Cenerentola, and Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte. She will also make her exciting return to Opéra de Montréal as her signature role of Gilda in Rigoletto. On the concert stage, she performs a solo concert with Orchestre Métropolitain featuring arias from both Auber's and Massenet's Manon under the baton of Kerilynn Wilson, sings Handel's Messiah with the Victoria Symphony and Seattle Symphony, makes her New York Philharmonic debut in Orff's Carmina Burana, and makes her Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut in Mahler's Symphony No. 8 at Roy Thomson Hall.
Highlights of her 2025/26 season included both her Canadian Opera Company and Vancouver Opera debuts as Gilda in Rigoletto, her role debut as the Woodbird in Wagner's Siegfried at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and her house debut at Teatro alla Scala as Frasquita in Carmen. On the concert stage, she made her debut with Les Violons du Roy, sang the Fauré Requiem with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, returned to the London Symphony Orchestra to perform Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica at the BBC Proms, made her debut at the Tiroler Festspiele as Lisa in Bellini's "La sonnambula" and debuted as Blondchen in Mozarts Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In the 2024/25 season, she appeared as Ophélie in Thomas's Hamlet with Opéra de Montréal, Gilda in Rigoletto with Pacific Opera Victoria, and Semele in Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae with the Bayerische Staatsoper. She also performed Orff's Carmina Burana at Festival de Lanaudière with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, all to great critical acclaim. This season also marked the release of her debut EP, Quatre chansons de jeunesse (Debussy), and her featured performances on Malcolm Martineau's The Complete Songs of Ravel.
The 2023/24 season included concert debuts with both the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Toledo Symphony, as well as appearances in both Cadogan Hall and Wigmore Hall as an Associate Artist of The Mozartists. She completed her two-year residency with the Royal Opera House's Jette Parker Artists Programme, appearing on stage at Covent Garden as Frasquita (Carmen), Giannetta (L'elisir d'amore), and the Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel), all to much critical acclaim. To close the season, she appeared as the High Priestess in Verdi's Aida under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Orchestre Métropolitain at Festival de Lanaudière.
Sarah debuted on the stage of Covent Garden as Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia), Der Hirt (Tannhäuser), Voce dal cielo (Don Carlo), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Tusnelda (Arminio). She has had the pleasure of working under the batons of Joana Mallwitz, Bertrand de Billy, Maxim Emelyanychev, and Sebastian Weigle, and with directors including Sir David McVicar, Oliver Mears, and Tim Albery. Additionally, the summer of 2023 saw Sarah's debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in Orff's Carmina Burana under Rafael Payare.
From 2020–2022 Sarah was a member of l'Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal. She appeared on the mainstage at Place des Arts as Nora in Opéra de Montréal's season-opening production of Vaughan Williams's Riders to the Sea. In June 2022, Sarah placed second in the Aria Division of the Concours musical international de Montréal, garnering praise for her “tremendous dramatic presence” and “astonishing clarity and vocal dexterity” (Opera Canada).