Sara Mingardo was born in Venice, where she studied at the Conservatorio
Benedetto Marcello under Franco Ghitti; thanks to a scholarship, she
completed her studies at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. After winning
several international competitions, she made her debut in 1987 in Il
Matrimonio segreto (Fidalma) and in La Cenerentola (title
role).
A regular guest of some of the leading Italian and international music
institutions, she is one of the leading artists on today's music scene.
She collaborates regularly with conductors of the calibre of Rinaldo
Alessandrini, Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Myung Whun-Chung, Sir Colin
Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Emmanuelle Haïm, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo
Muti, Roger Norrington, Trevor Pinnock, Maurizio Pollini, Christophe
Rousset, Jordi Savall, Peter Schreier, Jeffrey Tate and with leading
international orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, London
Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de
France, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Les
Talens Lyriques, Academia Montis Regalis.
Her repertoire includes works by Gluck, Monteverdi, Handel, Vivaldi,
Rossini, Verdi, Cavalli, Mozart, Donizetti, Schumann and Berlioz. She is
particularly active in the concert field with a repertoire ranging from
Bach, Beethoven and Brahms to Dvorak, Mahler, Pergolesi and Respighi.
Particularly noteworthy was the collaboration with Maestro Claudio Abbado
in a working partnership that saw Sara Mingardo play a leading role on
important occasions: the Lucerne Festival (Mozart's Requiem, Brahms'
Rhapsody for Alto and Kindertotenlieder); Pergolesi's Kindertotenlieder
and Stabat Mater in Bologna with the Mozart Orchestra; the
numerous concerts at the Salzburg Festival and on Italian tours (Bologna,
Modena, Jesi, Morimondo).
Winner of two Grammy Awards in 2002 for her performance as Anna in
Berlioz's Les Troyens (best opera and best classical music album),
in 2009 the Association of Italian Music Critics awarded her the important
"Abbiati 2009" Prize for her performance in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo
staged at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan under the baton of Rinaldo
Alessandrini.
Recent engagements include: Il Ritorno di Ulisse in patria
(Penelope) at the Grand Theatre de Genève and on tour in Spain with Europa
Galante; L'Orfeo by Monteverdi at the Opéra de Montecarlo and at
the Salzburger Festspiele; Giulio Cesare at the Teatro dell'Opera
in Rome, at the Opéra de Montecarlo, at the Opéra royal de Versailles, at
the Wiener Staatsoper and on tour in Europe with Les Musiciens du Prince;
Mozart's Requiem at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, in
Philadelphia and at Carnegie Hall in New York; Pergolesi's Stabat
Mater at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome; Symphony no. 9 by
Beethoven at the Terme di Caracalla; Mahler's Symphony No. 3 at
the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; and
Pergolesi's Stabat Mater on tour in the Netherlands with
Philarmonie Zuidnederland; Falstaff at the Teatro Carlo Felice in
Genoa; and Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245 with La Cetra
Barockorchester in Lipsia.
Highlights of the 2025–26 season include: Die Erste Walpurgisnacht
in San Sebastián-Donostia, Barcelona, and Paris conducted by Jordi Savall;
Giulio Cesare at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari and at the Palau de
les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with
the Orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Orfeo ed Euridice
at the New National Theatre in Tokyo; Bach’s St John Passion at
the Kölner Philharmonie; Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus at the Opéra de
Rouen; and a Baroque concert at the Anima Mundi Festival in Pisa
with English Concert and Trevor Pinnock.
August 2025