Possessing a rich, powerful voice that evokes unmistakable echoes of opera greats such as Birgit Nilsson and Jessye Norman, SARAI COLE is an international Verdian/Wagnerian soprano and a rising star in the opera world.  Recently she performed in Staatsoper Stuttgart’s spring festival, Wirklich Wirklich, in an experimental production called White Limozeen.

Ms. Cole has won countless awards including the Barry Alexander International Voice Competition (Carnegie Hall), the Harlem Opera Theatre Competition (Apollo Theater), the Long Beach Mozart Festival Competition, Wagner Society of New York Ursula Springer Award, the Frances E. Williams Artist Grants, and has been a finalist in many more competitions, the Philadelphia Orchestra Greenfield Competition and the AIMS Meister Singer competition among them.  In addition to the awards and competitions, she has received a number of grants from Wagner societies across the United States and Germany. 

Cole has studied with and learned from (via masterclass) some of the most famous singers and coaches in the opera world, including Mignon Dunn, Montserrat Caballé, Joan Dornemann and her current voice teacher Deborah Polaski.  She began her musical studies at age eight when she started singing in a professional children’s choir.  Moving into high school, she went to the famous LACHSA where she was a music major.  Ms. Cole has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Acting from Rider University, and holds the Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from Temple University. 
 

While at Temple University, Ms. Cole was featured in Temple University Opera Theater's productions as First Lady in The Magic Flute,  the title role of Suor Angelica, and Lady Billows in Albert Herring. While working on her masters, she performed with regional companies from Washington, DC to Boston, including Harlem Opera Theater, Hunterdon Symphony Orchestra, and Lexington Symphony.  Performed roles during this time include Leonora in Il Trovatore, the title role in Tosca, Woglinde, Aida, Santuzza, and Giorgetta. 

Ms. Cole has also performed in distinguished venues across the world such as Carnegie Hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Kimmel Center (Verizon Hall & Perelman Theater), Teatro Sodre in Montevideo, Uruguay, Auditorio Astengo and Auditorio Juan Victoria in Argentina, The Berliner Philharmonie, as well as numerous auditoriums, churches, opera houses, and synagogues throughout the US, South America, Austria, Germany, and Spain.​ She appears regularly in Berlin with many of the music festivals, at the Berliner Dom, and the Berlin Philharmonie.  Most recently, she sang in the Impulse festival in Dusseldorf, a charity concert to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a two night event at the Botanical Gardens in Berlin, a series of concerts in Spain, and in a masterclass with Günther Groissböck.  Cole's Berlin Brandenburg Wagner Society stipend -- as well as her Bayreuth Wagner Festival Stipendium honor -- will be rescheduled.