I dame, I saw, I conquered
A Sarah Connolly career snapshot
1994 After studies at the Royal College of Music and an early career with the BBC Singers and Glyndebourne Chorus, Sarah Connolly makes her opera debut as Annina in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at Welsh National Opera.
1998 She appears in the title role of Handel’s Serse at English National Opera. ‘In one sense I felt out of my depth and terrified,’ she later remembers in the Guardian. ‘The first night was real rabbit-in-headlights stuff.’ Her performance, however, proves a breakthrough moment.
2005 Her Glyndebourne performance in the title role of Handel’s Giulio Cesare opposite soprano Danielle de Niese as Cleopatra proves the highlight of the season. In the same year, she makes her debut at the New York Met.
2009 Dressed as Admiral Nelson, she appears in front of millions of TV viewers when she sings ‘Rule Britannia’ at the Last Night of the Proms, conducted by David Robertson.
2010 Connolly is introduced to a much younger audience when she sings ‘Voi che sapete’ from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro on the Cbeebies programme Zingzillas.
2017 Having been previously awarded a CBE in 2010 (pictured above), she goes one better when she is made a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.