Sarah Iles

Biography

Lyric soprano Sarah Iles has performed in Italy, France, Germany, Thailand, The United States and Canada. Recent performances include Adina in L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti for Opera Niagara as well as concert performances of arias from Rusalka, Turandot & Falstaff. Past operatic roles include Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Susanna and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Pamina and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Bastienne in Bastien and Bastienne, Elisetta in Il Matrimonio segreto, Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Laurie in The Tender Land, and Emmie in Albert Herring. Ms. Iles has also performed in contemporary operas for the Luminato Festival, and premiered roles in Univerty of Toronto New Music Festival. In Toronto Ms. Iles has performed in the Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre, Against the Grain Theatre, Opera by Request, Toronto Operetta Theatre and Summer Opera Lyric Theatre.

Ms. Iles traveled to Florence, Italy with a scholarship from the Consulate General of Italy in Toronto and later returned to sing at the prestigious Centre for Opera Studies in Sulmona, Italy. In 2015 she had the honour of working with renowned Verdian soprano, Mme. Aprile Millo (Metropolitan Opera) at the Operavision Academy in Urbania, Italy where she performed in a concert tour in Milan, Massa, Torre del Lago and Urbania. Performances included excerpts of Nannetta from Verdi’s Falstaff and Liù from Turandot by Puccini. In Urbania, she also had the privilege to work with esteemed Maestro Richard Bonynge in a bel canto Masterclass on Rossini’s Otello. Another career highlight from that summer was having the chance to sing Liù’s aria “Signore, Ascolta” for Puccini’s granddaughter, Dott.sa Simonetta Puccini, in a Gala concert with Mme. Aprile Millo in honour of Giacomo Puccini presented by the Circolo Carrarese Amici della Lirica ‘A. Mercuriali’ at the beautiful Malaspina Castle in Massa, Tuscany.

Ms. Iles started her performing career as a member of the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus in Toronto before moving to Peterborough, Ontario with her family. She has performed with The Peterborough Theatre Guild, The Lyric Stage, The Peterborough Singers and The Peterborough Singers Pop Ensemble. Ms. Iles earned her Bachelor’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, and her Diploma in Operatic Performance from the University of Toronto where she studied under Prof. Lorna McDonald. Other training includes the St. Andrews Opera Workshop in New Brunswick with Wendy Nielsen, and the Manhattan Summer Voice Festival at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. Sarah studies with Dr. Mary-Lou Vetere in Toronto.

Sarah strongly believes in supporting community activism through her passion for music and has participated in benefit concerts in support of the Peterborough Medical Brigade led by medical director Dr. Hardy Friesen. The Peterborough Medical Brigade is a non-governmental organization founded in 2001 to help provide free medical & dental care to developing countries around the world. Since then, almost $2 million worth of medical supplies and medications have been dispersed and approximately 45,000 people have received free health care in Honduras, Uganda, Indonesia, and the Phillippines. Please visit the facebook page of The Peterborough Medical Brigade if you would like to learn more!

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