Sally Wolf

Voice Instructor

In a career spanning 40 years, soprano Sally Wolf sang her brilliant  dramatic coloratura repertoire all over Europe and North America. She achieved acclaimed portrayals of the title role of Norma at Seattle Opera and Florida Grand Opera, Mimi (La bohème) at Seattle Opera, Violetta (La traviata) with Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, and Lucia ((Lucia di Lammermoor) with Seattle Opera and Opera Colorado.  She is known as an accomplished interpreter of the Mozart repertoire which includes Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with Frankfurt Opera, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) at New York City Opera and Los Angeles Opera, Constanze (Die Entführung  aus dem Serail) with Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and Santa Fe Opera, The Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Canadian Opera, and Austin Lyric Opera,  Elettra (Idomeneo) with Frankfurt Opera and Florida Grand Opera, and Giunia (Lucio Silla) at San Francisco Opera and The Salzburg Festival.  A world class interpreter of The Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), she performed 192 career performances of the role in most of the world’s prestigious opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, Salzburg Festival, La Fenice in Venice, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Bayrische Oper (Munich), Theatre du Chatalet in Paris, Grand Theatre du Geneve, Trieste Opera, Monte Carlo Opera, Seattle Opera, Washington Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera, Dallas Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and New York City Opera, among others. Other roles included the title role of the Ballad of Baby Doe, Gilda (Rigoletto), the title role of Semiramide, and Amenaide in I Masnadieri at Carnegie Hall with The Opera Orchestra of New York under Eve Queler. A versatile performer, Ms. Wolf had extensive experience in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire as well singing most of the leading female ingenue roles.

Orchestral appearances by Ms. Wolf  included a PBS televised production of  Mozart’s  The Impressario with Mostly Mozart in New York, Verdi’s Requiem with The Seattle  Symphony, Richmond Symphony and Berkshire Choral  Institute, Mozart’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,  Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with The Seattle Symphony and New York Chamber Orchestra.  She has also essayed Messiah with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Elijah with Palm Beach Masterworks Chorale, Bruch’s Das Lied von der Glocke with Seattle Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliette with The New Jersey Symphony, and appearances with the San Francisco Symphony in a program of Mozart Concert Arias.

Distinguished conductors with which Ms. Wolf has worked include: Sylvain  Cambreling,  Klaus Donath, John Fiore, Joseph Flummerfelt,  Bernard Haitink, Armin Jordan, George Manahan, Eduardo Mȕller,  Imre Pallo,  Eve Queler, Julius Rudel,  Donald Runnicles, Peter Schneider, Gerard Schwartz and Patrick Summers.

A native of Ravenna, Ohio, Ms. Wolf holds a B.M. degree in Voice Performance from Kent State University in Ohio, and an Opera Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, as well as post-graduate studies at Indiana University where she studied with renowned soprano and vocal pedagogue, Margaret Harshaw.  Ms. Wolf was the recipient of a 1981 National Opera Institute Grant, placed first in the 1980 San Francisco Opera Auditions, and was a 1986 winner in the International Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia.  She was also awarded Seattle Opera’s prestigious “Artist of The Year” in 1992.

Ms. Wolf  is currently also on the voice faculty of  Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where she has taught since 2001,  and she maintains a private voice studio for professional singers.  Ms. Wolf has been a member of Westminster’s acclaimed Florence Voice Program in Italy since 2004.  She has given master classes by invitation for the Apprentice Artists Programs at Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Festival Lyrique  in Belle-Ille, France, Austin Lyric Opera and Opera New Jersey,  as well as master classes at the Schools of Music at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Washington.  She is a frequent adjudicator at The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at both the District and Regional levels throughout the United States.