sarah kleeman
San Luis Obispo native Sarah Kleeman is known for her beautiful voice, intelligent musicianship, and spirited stage portrayals. San Francisco Classical Voice has hailed her "ringing, assertive and luxuriant tone" for her work in San Francisco Opera Merola's Cosi Fan Tutte. Denver Post raved that she was “compelling in the pathos of her character” and Opera News Magazine said that she “summoned up appropriate comic bile and timing, showing fine vocal control” as Charlotte in Central City Opera’s production of A Little Night Music. Ms. Kleeman has mesmerized audiences on operatic stages as well as theatrical.
Sarah has performed all over the country at notable theaters. Recently nominated for a New Hampshire Theater Award for her role as Diana in Next to Normal, Sarah has become known for her depth as both an actress and an outstanding singer. After her Broadway National Tour playing the Adult Women roles in the musical Spring Awakening, Sarah joined the Weathervane Repertory Theater Company for her first season. Roles that summer included Kate in Kiss me Kate, Violet in 9 to 5 and Charlotte in Moon Over Buffalo. During her return in 2014, Sarah gripped audiences as Miss Hannigan in Annie and Miss. Andrew in Mary Poppins. In 2013 she joined a stellar cast at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia as Mrs. Nordstom in A Little Night Music. At Musical Theater Heritage in Kansas City, she was Abigail Adams in an all-star female cast of 1776, Madge in Christmas Spectacular, and Kate/Lilli in Kiss me Kate. In New York she played the title role in the musical Mama and her Boys, including an encore performance at 54 Below.
Operatically, Ms. Kleeman has sung major roles with well-known opera companies. She performed the role of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera San Luis Obispo and reprised the role that spring at Sacramento Opera. In March 2008 she made her Chateauville Foundation debut under the baton of the late New York Philharmonic’s Lorin Maazel as Mrs. Trapes in The Beggar’s Opera. That summer she sang the title role in the world premiere of Nocciolina and the played Lynne in A Grand Night for Singing at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. Later that year in New York City Ms. Kleeman was one of four soloists that included Broadway veterans Michael Cerveris, Darius DeHaas and Carol Woods in Lyrics by W. Shakespeare, an evening presided over by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.
In the 2003-2004 season, she was a Resident Artist with Pittsburgh Opera, where her roles included Penelope in Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, and Mercedes in Carmen. Following that season, she sang Siebel in Faust with Chautauqua Opera and repeated that role in 2005 in her return to Pittsburgh Opera. Ms. Kleeman was Clotilde in Norma with Seattle Opera, Eduige in Rodelinda with Music Academy of the West and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Guild Opera of Los Angeles. As a member of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, she sang Tisbe in La Cenerentola and performed/recorded the Second Lady in The Magic Flute. Other roles she has performed on stage include the title role in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Signora Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza and Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti. Sarah Kleeman is a graduate of California State University, Northridge (Bachelor of Music) and is the recipient of numerous awards and competitions, including the Carol Vaness Award, the Glendale Symphony Competition and the Henry and Maria Holt Memorial Scholarship.
