Sara Jonsson was born in Örnsköldsvik in Sweden. She took voice, violin/viola and pianoforte as her triple principal study at the Kapellsbergs Musikskola, Härnösand, in Sweden, from 1994 to 1996, whilst working as an organist. From 1996 she studied singing at the Birmingham Conservatoire in England, where she won several song prizes and awards including the John Ireland Prize and the Reginald Vincent Lieder Prize. Sara graduated in 2000 with a First Class Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree. Other prizes include St John’s Singing Competition in 2005 (Art Song). In 2000 she received a full scholarship from the Joseph Weingarten Trust for vocal postgraduate studies at the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest in Hungary until 2002. Masterclasses and coaching have included Philip Langridge, David Syrus (Head of Music, The Royal Opera), Julius Drake, Sarah Walker, Malcolm Martineau (Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 1998), Petra Lang, Nicholas Cleobury and Robin Bowman. Works sung with orchestra include Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été (which she sung with Hitchin Symphony Orchestra in 2006). Operatic roles have included Lady Billows and Florence Pike (in Britten’s Albert Herring), the Countess (in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro), the Governess (in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw), the Witch (in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel), Berta (in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dorabella (in Mozart’s Così fan tutte), Barbarina (in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro), Papagena, Second Lady and Second Boy (in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte), Ida (in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus), Pallas Athena (in Thomas Arne’s The Judgement of Paris), Giulio Cesare (in Handel’s Giulio Cesare), and Athamas and Ino (in Handel’s Semele). Sara is also a highly experienced oratorio soloist and recitalist with works ranging from early music to contemporary composers. (May 2007)