räsonanz – Munich 2025
Sarah Aristidou
Biography
Sarah Aristidou, soprano of French-Cypriot origin, ranks as one of the most innovative and creative artists of her generation, described by critics as “extraordinary” and “with flawless technique” (Das Opernmagazin), she is the first ever singer to be awarded the Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music (2022), her recent solo recording, Enigma (Alpha Classics) was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and, as part of its 2024 Easter Festival, she collaborated with DJ Max Cooper on Seme, an Immersive Exploration of Italian Aesthetics, Music and Emergence, at Salzburg’s Felsenreitschule.
An intense and committed actress, in recent breakthrough performances of Ligeti’s Le Grande Macabre, Aristidou made lasting impact as Venus and Gepopo in two acclaimed new productions, marking her debut at Wiener Staatsoper under Pablo Heras-Casado, and at Bayerische Staatsoper, conducted by Kent Nagano. As Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, she has appeared at Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper unter den Linden, Oper Frankfurt and Semperoper Dresden, and as Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate, she joined productions in Copenhagen, Malmö and Berlin, the latter conducted by Marc Minkowski. Sarah Aristidou received exceptional reviews for her performances both as Shoko in the world-premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Das Jagdgewehr in co-production with Bregenzer Festspiele and Aldeburgh Festival and as Hanako, marking her debut at Bayerische Staatsoper, in a collaborative production between choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija of Toshio Hosokawa’s Hanjo.
In the 2024/2025 season, Aristidou debuts at Opernhaus Zürich in the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s Das Grosse Feuer, creating the role of Aquella Muchacham while on the concert platform, she joins The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst for her first performances of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine. Celebrating the centenary of Luciano Berio in collaboration with Spectra Ensemble at BOZAR, Aristidou presents Recital I for Cathy and Berberian’s Stripsody, she tours Boulez’s Pli selon Pli with Les Siècles and Franck Ollu in Tourcoing, Paris, Munich and Baden-Baden and performs Boulez’s Le Soleil des Eaux with Ensemble Intercontemporain at Philharmonie de Paris under Pierre Bleuse. With Orchestre de Paris, she sings Fauré’s Requiem under Klaus Mäkelä, with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra she sings Orff, Carmina Burana under Aziz Shokhakimov and, conducted by the composer, she performs Jörg Widmann’s Versuch über die Fuge with Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona.
An enthusiastic champion of new music, Aristidou has inspired several compositions including Aribert Reimann’s Cinq fragments lyriques, premiered with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Robin Ticciati and Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth IV, presented with Boulez Ensemble and Daniel Barenboim. She made an acclaimed debut at Salzburger Festspiele in Morton Feldman’s Neither with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien under Roland Kluttig, returning last season with both Klangforum Wien with Beat Furrer conducting his own composition, Begehren, and Georg Friedrich Haas’ Koma under Bas Wiegers. With Berliner Philharmoniker, she debuted in Edgard Varèse‘s Offrandes and, in a special project entitled ‘Transfiguré – 12 vies de Schönberg’, Artistidou debuted with Orchestre de Paris under Ariane Matiakh.
Additional concert highlights include Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Masaaki Suzuki, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Gürzenich-Orchester under Roth, and Bach’s St John’s Passion with Akademie für Alte Musik under Justin Doyle. Artistidou has debuted many new works including Brett Dean’s Ich lausche und ich höre with the Scharoun Ensemble at Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Larcher’s The Living Mountain at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. With Staatskapelle Berlin and Finnegan Downie Dear, she has presented George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill and Mind of Fire, with WDR Sinfonieorchester under Roderick Cox Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, with Philharmonie Zuidnederland and Duncan Ward Abrahamsen’s Let Me Tell You, with Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin Schӧnberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and, conducted by the composer himself, with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Matthias Pintscher’s With Lilies White.
Sarah Aristidou’s debut album AETHER (2021), together with Thomas Guggeis, Orchester des Wandels and special guests Daniel Barenboim, Emmanuel Pahud and Christian Rivet, was nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award and featured music from composers ranging from Handel to Varèse and including Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth V (Alpha Classics). Her wider discography includes her second solo release, Enigma (2023, Alpha Classics), as well as Thomas Larcher’s The Living Mountain for ECM, S’Agapo with Kaan Bulak for Feral Note and Max Cooper’s EP Seme. Aristidou received the Luitpold Prize for Outstanding Performance at the Kissinger Sommer Festival (2021) and has been twice nominated for Opernwelt’s Best Newcomer award.