Biography

Admired by the New York Times for her “plush-voiced, impressive soprano,” Sara Jakubiak has captivated audiences with her rich chameleon voice and committed performances.

Trained at the Cleveland Institute and Yale University, Sara Jakubiak quickly became known for her abilities as a consummate musician and performer.  Highlights during the first few years of her career were performances as Dede in A Quiet Place (New York City Opera),  Cathy in Wuthering Heights(Minnesota Opera) and Montemezzi’s L’amore dei tre Re with the Polish Radio Symphony. 

She began her international career in earnest with her ENO debut as Marie in Wozzack under Ed Gardiner, followed by her debut as Polina in Prokofiev’s The Gambler at the Dutch National Opera and Elsa in Lohengrin at Opera Graz.   As a principal member at Oper Frankfurt, she distinguished herself in a wide range of roles including the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos, Lina in Stiffelio, and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. She also won high praise in Frankfurt for her portrayal of Marietta/Marie in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt and was invited to sing the same role for her debut at the Staatsoper Hamburg and Berlin’s Komische Oper. During this time, she also made her debut at the Semperoper Dresden as Agathe in Die Freischütz under Christian Thielemann and later debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Eva in a new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Kirill Petrenko.  In the United States she made her Carnegie Hall debut in the title role in Martinu’s Julietta under Leon Botstein. 

In 2020 Ms Jakubiak debuted the role of Heliane in the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s revival of Korngold’s rarely performed Das Wunder der Heliane The production, directed by Christoph Loy and conducted by Marc Albrecht was an international triumph. Online Merker stated, “Ms. Jakubiak has a wonderfully expansive, glamorous and youthful dramatic soprano…a luxurious, changeable voice blessed with infinite colors that only appears once every twenty years.”

Highlights of the next few years include her debut as Francesca in Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new production of Francesca di Rimini, her debut as Chysothomus in Electra at both the Palais des Arts in Valencia and Washington National Opera; and Strauss’s Arabella at Teatro Real Madrid where ABC Cultura wrote “ Jakubiak is the perfect Arabella. Hers is a voice full of colors and precious metals, the voice of a bird of paradise…” She also returned to Wiener Staatsoper as Marie in Wozzeck and closed 2023 season with her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Bohuslav Martinů’s The Greek Passion.

The current season features her debut as the Kaiserin in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten with Opéra de Lyon; her Covent Garden debut in the role of Chysothemis in Electra ; her role debut as Sieglinde in a concert performances of Die Walküre with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and her Italian stage debut at Teatro la Fenice in the role of Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos 

Ms. Jakubiak discography includes the 2020 Opus Klassik Award for the Albrecht/Loy production of Das Wunder der Heliane (Naxos); Agathe in Der Freischütz ( Thielemann/Kohler) on Unitel Classica; Francesca di Rimini (Rizzi/Loy) on Naxos; and  Fiora in Montemezzi’s L’amore dei tre Re with the Polish Radio Symphony (Borowicz). She has also recorded Schoenbergs’ Erwartung (Chandos) and the Grammy nominated Glagolitic Mass by Janáček with Edward Gardner and the Bergan Philharmonic on Chandos. 

Sara Jakubiak is of Polish and German decent and originally hails from Bay City, Michigan. She was a star fast pitch softball player, competing in tournaments throughout the United States, winning two state championships. Sara holds master degrees from Yale University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.  She makes her home in New York City and Berlin with her two cats Bandit and Coconut.