The Artists
"Terrific" — The New York Times · "a standout" — Parterre Box · "eye-catching and ear-popping" — Boston Musical Intelligencer
An Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera, their credits with the company include Ruodi in a new production of Rossini's Guillaume Tell (October 2026), Tonio in The Daughter of The Regiment (cover), and Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola (cover). Regional credits include Madeline X in Michael Gordon's opera What to Wear at Beth Morrison Projects' PROTOTYPE Festival (NYC), Ascanius/First Sailor in Errolyn Wallen's Dido's Ghost (Emmanuel Music, Boston), Hades in the Opera Grand Rapids production of Eurydice, Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Wichita Grand Opera), and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance (New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players). They recently made their European stage debut as Astolfe in Lully's Roland at Opéra Royal Versailles with the period instrument orchestra i Gemelli.
Active on the concert stage, they recently sang the tenor solo in Bach's BWV 92 with conductor Harry Bicket for Bach Vespers New York, as well as the solo cantata for tenor Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht. They debuted with Boston Baroque as the tenor soloist in Bach's Coffee Cantata, BWV 211, and have a long-standing relationship with Emmanuel Music in their weekly Bach Cantata series, singing the tenor solos in over 15 cantatas with the group. Other concert credits include Handel's Messiah (Messiah Choral Society of Orlando) and Orff's Carmina Burana (Carnegie Hall).
They are the 2nd Prize winner of the 2025 Concours du chant Baroque Froville, Handel Aria Competition, American National Oratorio Competition, and the 2024 Lyndon-Woodside Oratorio Competition. They are an alumnus of the Young Artist Programs of Opera Saratoga and Teatro Nuovo and earned degrees from Northwestern University and New England Conservatory.
"Bright" and "stylish" — Opera News
American soprano Sarah Fleiss is a current member of the 12th edition of Le Jardin des Voix singing La Poésie in Les arts florissants and Proserpine in La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers with Bill Christie. This 25/26 season, she opens the Les Arts Florissants Festival de Printemps singing sacred works by Alessandro Scarlatti and debuts at the Monteverdi Festival in Cremona, Italy singing La Fortuna and Damigella in L'incoronazione di Poppea. She also enjoyed a series of recitals with pianist Nikolay Verevkin performing an all-English program with music by Purcell, Arne, Barber, and Britten.
In the 26/27 season, she sings the title role in Handel's Esther with Mountainside Baroque, the Beethoven Mass in C with the Binghamton Symphony, and debuts with the Sarasota Orchestra singing Mozart's Exsultate, Jubilate. Notable operatic roles include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, the Vixen in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, and Ginevra in Handel's Ariodante. Concert highlights include the Fauré Requiem with Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Dalton Chorale, the Dvořák Te Deum and Poulenc's Gloria with the Wichita Symphony, and a debut with Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia's Baroque Orchestra.
Sarah was named the 2025 winner and first ever vocalist to receive the Arthur W. Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association, a Capital district winner of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the first place winner of the 2024 MI Opera and 2023 Hal Leonard Vocal Competitions, the emerging artist winner of the 2023 Rochester Oratorio Society Competition, and the winner of the 2022 Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship by the National Society of Arts and Letters. Sarah studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Columbia University, and the Juilliard School, with additional training from the Georg Solti Accademia, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Verbier Festival Atelier Lyrique.
With a background in musical theater, Sarah started her operatic training with one main goal: to ensure she was equally, if not more expressive than she was on the theatrical stage. Her fascination with the history of operatic singing combined with her love of drama naturally led to her discovery of baroque music. She believes this repertoire has the capability to show the human voice at its most powerful, and its most vulnerable, and is committed to Split the Lark's mission: to prove that theatrical declamation — the ability to be heard clearly and without strain from all parts of a room — as the most potent means by which to arouse affectation across ensemble and audience.