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| Sara Braga Simões as Zerlina, Nicola Ebau as Don Giovanni, Jorge Martins as Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni |
Sara’s versatility has taken her to major Portuguese
theaters, concert halls, and music festivals. She has also performed in the
United Kingdom, France, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, and other countries.
International reviews praise her impressive range (Opera Now)
and outstanding performances (Opera Magazine).
She has portrayed a wide array of exciting operatic roles,
including Pamina (The Magic Flute), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Adina (L’Elisir
d’Amore), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), The
Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Rita (Donizetti),
Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and Despina (Così fan Tutte), among many others. These
roles were directed by distinguished artists such as Ricardo Pais, Luís Miguel
Cintra, and João Botelho.
Her concert repertoire includes works such as Mozart’s Mass
in C minor (performed for the Gulbenkian Foundation), Händel’s Messiah,
Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, and Britten’s Les Illuminations (with the
Metropolitana Orchestra – Lisbon), Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria,
and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem (for the Lisbon Opera House), Mahler’s Des
Knaben Wunderhorn (at Casa da Música), as well as Orff’s Carmina Burana and Berlioz’s
Les Nuits d’été, among others.
Sara is frequently selected to premiere works by renowned
composers such as Nuno Côrte-Real, Luís Tinoco, Pedro Amaral, João Pedro
Oliveira, Anne Victorino de Almeida, Carlos Azevedo, Aubert Lemeland, and
others. Notable premieres include O Sonho by Pedro Amaral—performed in London
with the London Sinfonietta under the baton of the composer himself—and Banksters
by Nuno Côrte-Real at the Lisbon Opera House.
She has collaborated with conductors including Ton Koopman,
Laurence Cummings, Lawrence Renes, Martin André, Antonio Pirolli, Stefan
Asbury, Peter Rundell, Johannes Willig, Stefan Blunier, Rui Pinheiro, Marcos
Magalhães, Pedro Neves, Cesário Costa, João Paulo Santos, Joana Carneiro,
António Saiote, Marc Tardue, Brad Cohen, Ferreira Lobo, and many others.
During her academic years, she worked with mentors such as
Manuela Bigail, Rui Taveira, Peter Harrison, Susan McCulloch, and Elisabete
Matos.