Sara Macliver

Sara Macliver is one of Australia’s most popular and versatile artists, and is regarded as one of the leading exponents of Baroque repertoire in Australia. Sara trained in Perth, where she was a pupil of the renowned soprano Molly McGurk.

Sara is a regular performer with Symphony Australia Orchestras in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmania, as well as the Perth, Melbourne and Sydney Festivals, Musica Viva, Melbourne Chorale, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australia Bach Ensemble, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs among others.

Career highlights include a performance in the presence of Diana, Princess of Wales, a recital concert in Japan, a five city tour of Italy with Ola Rudner and the Haydn Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Edo de Waart and the Sydney Symphony, a programme based on the life of Jane Austen, with pianist Bernadette Balkus and Musica Viva, and Pinchgut Opera’s productions of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen.

Sara records for ABC Classics. CDs include Fauré’s Requiem and Birth of Venus, Orff’s Carmina Burana, the title track for a trilogy of Christmas albums and a CD of Haydn arias with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Ola Rudner. In 2002 she completed a recording of Handel’s Messiah for CD and DVD. This has been screened several times on national television.

Recent releases include Bach arias and duets and the Pergolesi Stabat Mater with mezzo soprano Sally-Anne Russell (both award winners) and the recently released Songs of the Auvergne.

In 2005 and 2006 Sara performed and recorded with the West Australian, Adelaide, Tasmanian and Queensland Orchestras, with the Sydney and Perth International Festivals, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and with the Australian Chamber Orchestra amongst others.

In 2007 Sara performed as Echo/Aphrodite in the première of Richard Mills’s new opera For The Love of the Nightingale for the Perth Festival, in concerts and recordings with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and for Pinchgut Opera in their new production of Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans amongst many other engagements.

In 2008 engagements include concerts with the Melbourne, Adelaide, West Australian and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the New Zealand, Woodend and Musica Viva Festivals, concerts with Sydney Philharmonia and the Art Gallery of NSW, touring with pianist Bernadette Balkus and appearing in Pinchgut Opera’s 2008 performances of Charpentier’s David et Jonathas.

In 2009 Sara will be singing Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro with West Australian Opera, in Elijah with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, working with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Creation in New Zealand, and in an all Mozart program with the Sydney Symphony amongst many other engagements.

Sara has recently been award an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Australia in recognition of her services to singing.