National Opera Studio - current trainee Sara Gonzalez-Saavedra

Sara González Saavedra was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and discovered her musical vocation relatively late when she was studying to be a Telecomunications Engineer at The Polytechnic University of Las Palmas! She subsequently obtained a Titulo Profesional de Música at Tarragona Conservatory (Spain) with Merce Obiol where she studied for 3 years on a Cabildo of Gran Canaria scholarship. She obtained BMus honours in 2006 and MMus with distinction in 2007. Sara is completing a 2 years full-time Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. At the Guildhall Sara studies with Professor Jane Highfield.

She has also participated in several courses with Jennifer Smith, Nico van der Meer, Cristian Curnyn, M. Lawson, Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson Felicity Lott, Ana Luisa Chova, Emma Kirby, Judy Weins and Christoph Soekler

She has been supported by the prestigious Ministry of Culture of Spain Award 2005-2007 and she has received the 2008 Silk Street award for the most promising postgraduate singing student at GSMD and she was a GSMD Gold Medal finalist in 2007.

Sara has made many solo concert and oratorio appearances including Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Cherubini’s Missa Solemnis, Rossini´s Petite Messe Solemnelle, Verdi´s Requiem, Haendel’s Messiah and Bach´s Johannes Passion. Her solo recital repertoire is wide, including El Amor Brujo at Saint John Smith´s Square, the Siete Canciones Populares of Manuel de Falla and Mahler’s Rückert Lieder at Barbican Hall. Operatic roles and scenes include Dardané Gluck´s La rencontre imprevue, Caroline Thick Mane Sallinen’s The king goes forth to France and Fyokla Martinu´s The Marriage at GSMD, Purcell’s Dido, Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), The Third Lady (Die Zauberflute), Bizet´s Carmen, Charlotte (Werther), she understudied “La hija del cielo” as opening of the 2007/08 season in Las Palmas Opera Season, Mamma Lucia Cavalleria Rusticana in Barbican Hall and Cesena (Italy etc.

Future engagements include: Rossini´s Petite Messe Solemnelle, Opera Gala for Nits de estiu Festival in Barcelona.