Sarah Paige Hagstrom - Soprano

Soprano Sarah Paige Hagstrom's recent performances as Emily Webb in the world premiere of Ned Rorem's Our Town, Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen and Abigail and Mary Warren in The Crucible received universal and enthusiastic praise. She has performed with the Bay View Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Virginia Opera, Opera North, Sarasota Opera, Accademia Italiana di Canto, International Institute of Music in Croatia and Bel Canto Northwest.

This season is highlighted by company and role débuts including Adina with the Florida's Imperial Symphony & Opera, the role of Solveig in a new adaptation of Grieg's Peer Gynt (March) with Maestro Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra, Micaëla in Peter Brook's The Tragedie of Carmen with Opera on the James (April), Marianne in Tartuffe with Lake George Opera (June - July), Rosina with Duluth Festival Opera and Musetta with Sir Andrew Litton and the Minnesota Orchestra (August).

Last season, Ms. Hagstrom returned to Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for her first Valencienne in Lehar's Merry Widow and made a dazzling début with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as featured soloist in Too Darn Hot - A Cole Porter Celebration. She also starred in ISO's "Yuletide Celebration." She will reprise her star turn in Too Darn Hot in her début with the Baltimore Symphony, May 10-13, 2007. Ms. Hagstrom has also appeared as featured soloist with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra & Opera (Florida), Thornton Symphony & Jazz Orchestra, the Monte Carlo Orchestra, the Bakersfield Symphony and the USC Symphony as "Outstanding Graduate of 2000."

She has worked with many notables in classical music including Mark Flint, Peter Mark, Dorothy Danner, Yannick Nezzisagan, Stephanie Sundine, Alan Smith, Blythe Walker, Giorgio Tozzi, Louis Burkot, James Marvel, Roger Bingaman, John Glen Paton and Vladamir Chernov.

Among her many awards and distinctions, Ms. Hagstrom was a Regional Finalist (Memphis) and District Winner (Nashville) in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions in 2004; recipient of the Marilyn Horne Award and Scholarship in Los Angeles in 2002 and 2001; First Place Winner of the Burbank Philharmonic's Aria and Concerto Competition; a National Finalist in the Palm Springs Opera Guild and the Lotte Lenya / Kurt Weill Vocal (New York) competitions, and "Outstanding Graduate in Vocal Arts" at USC.

PRESS ACCLAIM

As Musetta in La Bohème: (Minnesota Orchestra - August, 2007)

"The rest of the cast was uniformly outstanding. Matching Rodolfo and Mimì in their tempestuous stew of attraction and aversion were Marcello and Musetta, and they were strongly sung and richly portrayed by Raymond Ayers and Sarah Hagstrom, whose memorable Musetta was a high-heeled tart in a metallic, tiger-skin dress."

Rob Hubbard - Pioneer Press

As Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia: (Duluth Festival Opera - July 2007)

"Sarah Paige Hagstrom was adept at feigning loyalty to Bartolo even as she yearned for the young Count Almaviva. In her vocal lesson with the disguised Almaviva she changed from entertaining Bartolo to flirting with the Count effortlessly."

Samuel Black - Duluth News Tribune

As Mariane in Tartuffe: (Lake George Opera - June 2007)

"As the daughter who fights for the right to marry for love (and not for her father's whims) the petite and blond Sarah Paige Hagstrom was whimpering, eloquent and charming. Considering this performance along with her portrayal of Emily in last year's "Our Town" - in which she inhabited the role with an unadorned purity - it is clear that Hagstrom is a musical actress to watch."

Joseph Dalton - Albany Times Union

"Hagstrom, who wowed audiences and critics last summer in a stirring performance of Emily Webb, sounded quite wonderful in 'I beg you father.'"

Judith White - The Saratogian - July 1, 2007

As Micaëla in Carmen:

"Ms. Hagstrom brought dramatic realism and controlled vocalism to her singing in this role. She is brought the opera to life. I will watch for her continued success!"

C. Fields - Virginia - Apr 2007

As Solveig in Grieg's Peer Gynt (staged): (Minnesota Orchestra and The St. Olaf Choir)

"Sarah Hagstrom makes 'Solveig's Song' touching without being mawkish; she finds the spiritual strength in the character's innocence as she spends years waiting for Peer's return."

William Randall Beard, Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN - March 15, 2007

As Soloist in Romance by Request: (ISO Pops Series No. 5 - Hilbert Circle Theatre - Feb. 9-11, 2007)

"Soprano Sarah Hagstrom and mezzo Katherine Korsak brought luscious harmony to the "Flower Duet" from Delibes star-crossed-lovers opera Lakme. Hagstrom equally delivered with beauty 'Un bel di' from Puccini's Madame Butterfly, an abiding profession of love that is one of the saddest arias ever written, but deserving of a Valentine event. Hagstrom 'requested' Porter's "So in Love" from Kiss Me Kate so she could sing Everly's lilting arrangement."

Rita Kohn - Nuvo News - Feb 14, 2007

As Soloist in "A Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber": (Charlotte Symphony, Florida)

"Hagstrom has been praised for performances by The New Yorker magazine and Opera News, and has been recognized by Symphony Magazine as one of its 2007 'Emerging Artists of the Year.' The power of Hagstrom's delivery of 'Unexpected Song' from the musical Song and Dance gave credibility to the words."

As Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen (Indianapolis Opera):

Spoken and sung Sarah Paige Hagstrom as Micaëla in Indianapolis Opera's production of Bizet's masterpiece 'Carmen' Many may know; many others perhaps not: Georges Bizet's operatic masterpiece - and his swan song - Carmen, premiered at Paris' Opèra Comique in 1875 (a few months before Bizet's death) with spoken dialogue and singing interspersed. We're more used to hearing it with all music - accompanied recitatives (interpolated by Ernest Guiraud later that year for the opera's Viennese premiere) mixing with all those beautiful tunes we know so well. Indianapolis Opera stage director Michael Scarola much prefers Bizet and his two librettists' original concept, and makes a good case for it in the IO program booklet. Whichever way you like it - or whether it makes a difference to you - this IO's Carmen began their season early, an audience triumph last Friday with a Clowes Hall sellout. The story of the gypsy seductress who works in a Seville cigarette factory and spurns one man as fast as she takes up with another is well-known, having many variants in literature. Bizet simply contributes to such a plot line a concentration of music so gorgeous, so highly inspired, so memorable that his opera's been at the top of the public-appeal charts ever since. Only Mozart has matched or exceeded Carmen in the use of memorable tunes to carry a story line - and sending his audiences homeward humming. And only Puccini's La Bohème has surpassed Carmen in number of performances to date. Mezzo Elizabeth Batton, sang last weekend's title gypsy. She delivered her opening "Habañera" with excessive opulence, but showed increasing vocal control as she progressed throughout the three acts (four in most productions). Whatever her vocal limitations, Batton's voice proclaimed a world-wise "street" woman who gradually came to realize and accept her imminent self-destruction. Another frequent IO visitor, tenor Mark Thomsen, sang Carmen's (first) lover, corporal Don José. And, as in past IO productions, Thomsen's projection seemed occasionally forced, Batton getting the best of him in their many duets. Thomsen's "Flower Song" in Act 2 showed his best lyric vocalizing. Baritone Daniel Narducci completes the love triangle as Escamillo, the dashing bullfighter, who charms Carmen away from Don José as readily as she had stolen José's attention from his intended bride Micaëla. Regrettably, Narducci's introductory "Toreador Song" presaged an even more forced, uneven delivery, especially at his bottom registers, than Thomsen's. In fact, none of the other male roles - Peter Loehle making his IO debut as Zuniga, José's captain, Samuel Spade's first IO appearance as officer Moralès and Nathen Bick as Remendado, one of Carmen's gypsy companions - showed exceptional singing. One wonders if engaging quality male singers is a bigger challenge for regional opera companies. On the other hand, soprano Sarah Paige Hagstrom, singing Micaëla, has ranked consistently among the best voices in past IO productions. Beautifully controlled, evenly centered, Hagstrom's Act 1 "reminiscence" duet, "Parle-moi de ma mére," with José and her later gypsy camp aria, "C'est des contrebandiers," produced the best singing of the opera, a fact not lost on the audience, who gave her the loudest and most extended ovation. Hagstrom ought to be considered for more starring roles. John Conklin's four sets, one for each act and each of Act 3's two scenes - a Seville public square, inside a tavern, in the gypsy camp and outside the Seville bull ring - would have seemed more contrasting if they had not all been dominated by a light-brown/beige color. Susan Allred's costumes were splendidly apropos, making up for the sets' monochrome. IO artistic director and conductor James Caraher once again led the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra in a generally well-honed reading, one which could have used a bit more verve throughout. With trimming here, cutting there, excluding an entr'acte and relocating the one with the beautiful flute solo to just before the final scene, this production ran from 8:10 to 11:35. Three 20-minute intermissions - perhaps one too many - contributed excessively to the length.

Tom Aldridge - NuvoNews - Oct 4, 2006

As Emily Webb in the professional premiere of Ned Rorem's Our Town (Lake George Opera):

"Soprano Sarah Hagstrom's Emily was incandescent. Her big voice is of the kind that fills the air so palpably, you feel as if you can reach out and touch it. Her last act, in which Rorem has given the soprano an extended stretch that is a tour de force, was breathtaking."

Doug de Lisle - The Record - July 7, 2006

"In Our Town, which was directed by Nelson Sheeley and conducted by Mark Flint, the vocal standout was Sarah Paige Hagstrom, passionately engaged as Emily."

Alex Ross - The New Yorker - August 21, 2006

"Soprano Sarah Hagstrom as Emily had the most traditionally operatic role and channeled the piece's heart-rending emotions into her final lines … a standout."

Joseph Dalton - Special to Times Union - July 2006

"Sarah Paige Hagstrom and Vale Rideout made a handsome, credible pair as young Emily and George." "The soprano has a lovely voice; lyrical and appealing at the fully sounded bottom and in the middle." "Her singing in all upper-register phrases was blasted with a pulverizing power. The potential is exciting." "A fine portrait of a flowering young girl."

David Shengold - Opera News - October, 2006

"Hagstrom brought a radiant beauty to Emily that made her third act transformation believable. A standout in a stellar cast."

B.A. Nilsson - Metroland - July 6, 2006

"Hagstrom's soprano came to beautiful fruition in the final act."

Mae G. Banner - The Saratogian - July 4, 2006

"Opera catches flavor, spirit of 'Our Town'" "… the excellent soprano Sarah Hagstrom as Emily …"

Geraldine Freedman - The Sunday Gazette - July 2, 2006

"Soprano Sarah Paige Hagstrom was a down-to-earth Emily Webb, whose farewell aria on returning to her grave, 'Oh earth, you are too magical for any one to know your miracle…' resonates with the heart-felt yearning that anyone familiar with the story is entitled to hope for; Hagstrom's unstinting delivery rattled the plaster of the Spa Little Theater's excellent sound chamber."

Gay City News (NY)

As Valencienne in The Merry Widow (Indianapolis Opera - November 2005):

"Sarah Paige Hagstrom has the vocal and performance range to pull off the balance between lusting for that affair and safeguarding her married position. You'll next see her at Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's 'Yuletide' celebration."

Rita Kohn - Nuvo 15, November 23, 2005

As Mary Warren in Ward's The Crucible (Indianapolis Opera - March 2005):

"Sarah Hagstrom's delivery of Abigail's teen-aged cohort Mary Warren was superior."

Tom Aldridge - Nuvo E News

As Kate Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly(Indianapolis Opera - November 2004):

"Sarah Hagstrom's singing the 'other wife,' Kate Pinkerton. Hagstrom's Kate revealed a beautiful voice in her meager role at the end."

Tom Aldridge - Nuvo E News