Sarah Aristidou

French soprano and agile coloratura, Sarah Aristidou is a gifted singer, vocally serene in classical, contemporary and folk music, as well as live improvisations. She ranks as one of the most innovative and creative artists of her generation, known for her deep emotional connection to every note she sings and her remarkable stage presence. Sarah Aristidou continuously transcends artistic boundaries, her voice blending precision, depth, and sensuality in a way that is truly unique. In 2022, she became the first singer to receive the Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music.

An intense and committed actress, in recent breakthrough performances of György Ligeti’s Le Grande Macabre, Aristidou made lasting impact as Venus and Gepopo in two acclaimed new productions at Wiener Staatsoper and at Bayerische Staatsoper. As Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, she has appeared at Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper unter den Linden and Semperoper Dresden. Sarah Aristidou received exceptional reviews for her performances both as Shoko in the 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 Toshio Hosokawa’s Hanjo. Recent highlights include Aristidou’s debut at Opernhaus Zürich in the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s Das Grosse Feuer and her North American debut with The Cleveland Orchestra for Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine. Aristidou collaborated with Ensemble Intercontemporain for Pierre Boulez’s Le Soleil des Eaux at Philharmonie de Paris and Lucianos Berio’s Recital I for Cathy, which she performed alongside Berberian’s Stripsody with Spectra Ensemble at BOZAR. In the 2025/26 season, Aristidou creates the role Vampi in the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Monsters Paradise at Staatsoper Hamburg and Opernhaus Zurich under Titus Engel.

Aristidou’s voice has inspired several compositions including Aribert Reimann’s Cinq fragments lyriques, premiered with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth IV.  She made an acclaimed debut at Salzburger Festspiele in Morton Feldman’s Neither with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, returning last season with both Klangforum Wien with Beat Furrer’s composition, Begehren, and Georg Friedrich Haas’ Koma. Artistidou has debuted many new works including Brett Dean’s Ich lausche und ich höre at and Larcher’s The Living Mountain. With Staatskapelle Berlin she has presented George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill and Mind of Fire, with WDR Sinfonieorchester Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, with Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin Arnold Schӧnberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Matthias Pintscher’s With Lilies White.

Sarah’s recording projects reflect her artistic vision – her debut album AETHER (2021), together with Thomas Guggeis, Orchester des Wandels and Daniel Barenboim, Emmanuel Pahud and Christian Rivet, was nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award (Alpha Classics). Her wider discography includes Enigma (2023, Alpha Classics), which was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, 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.