Sarah van der Ploeg is a lyric soprano hailing from the small town of North Haledon, New Jersey, nestled in the shadow of New York City. Growing up in an artistic household, she played piano, viola, violin, and sang in choirs from an early age, and her mother maintains that she sang before she spoke.
Praised for her expressivity, versatility, musicianship, and beauty of tone, Sarah has soloed in London, New York, Chicago, Vienna, around the UK and France, and in several smaller cities scattered throughout the US and Europe. A true "singing actor", she relishes in character creation, and the full development of a living, breathing persona in every piece performed. She also has particular interest in Twentieth Century and contemporary repertoire, and enjoys working with composers. This has led to intensive development of a wide variety of styles, with repertoire ranging from opera to oratorio to art song, as well as jazz, musical theatre, folk and gospel music.
Favorite roles and performance experiences include: Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (Northwestern University), Stella/Undine in The Tales of Hoffmann Retold (Opera Theater of Pittsburgh), Barber's Knoxville with the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, Une Bete in Ravel's L'Enfant with Esa Pekka Salonen and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Musetta in La Bohème (RAM Italian Opera Academy), solo turns at the Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall, soloing in Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Nicholas Kramer and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, covering Mozart's Requiem with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, workshopping the Contessa from Figaro with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Master Classes with Robert Tear, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Susan Ashbaker. Additionally, she has enjoyed many world and regional premiere performances of works by living composers.
Sarah completed a Masters degree in Voice and Opera at Northwestern University with Theresa Brancaccio, Alan Darling and Richard Boldrey; she previously received an MMus with Distinction from the Vocal Faculty of the Royal Academy of Music, London in 2010 under the tutelage of Diane Forlano and Mary Hill. A Marshall Scholar, Sarah is a graduate of Princeton University, where she studied arts policy alongside music performance. Passionate about the arts' role as catalysts for positive societal change, Sarah searches for ways in which music can bridge cultural boundaries, and seeks opportunities for advocacy and reconciliation through the arts.
Praised for her expressivity, versatility, musicianship, and beauty of tone, Sarah has soloed in London, New York, Chicago, Vienna, around the UK and France, and in several smaller cities scattered throughout the US and Europe. A true "singing actor", she relishes in character creation, and the full development of a living, breathing persona in every piece performed. She also has particular interest in Twentieth Century and contemporary repertoire, and enjoys working with composers. This has led to intensive development of a wide variety of styles, with repertoire ranging from opera to oratorio to art song, as well as jazz, musical theatre, folk and gospel music.
Favorite roles and performance experiences include: Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (Northwestern University), Stella/Undine in The Tales of Hoffmann Retold (Opera Theater of Pittsburgh), Barber's Knoxville with the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, Une Bete in Ravel's L'Enfant with Esa Pekka Salonen and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Musetta in La Bohème (RAM Italian Opera Academy), solo turns at the Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall, soloing in Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Nicholas Kramer and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, covering Mozart's Requiem with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, workshopping the Contessa from Figaro with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Master Classes with Robert Tear, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Susan Ashbaker. Additionally, she has enjoyed many world and regional premiere performances of works by living composers.
Sarah completed a Masters degree in Voice and Opera at Northwestern University with Theresa Brancaccio, Alan Darling and Richard Boldrey; she previously received an MMus with Distinction from the Vocal Faculty of the Royal Academy of Music, London in 2010 under the tutelage of Diane Forlano and Mary Hill. A Marshall Scholar, Sarah is a graduate of Princeton University, where she studied arts policy alongside music performance. Passionate about the arts' role as catalysts for positive societal change, Sarah searches for ways in which music can bridge cultural boundaries, and seeks opportunities for advocacy and reconciliation through the arts.