Praised by Opera News for her “unusually rich and resonant” voice, contralto Sara Couden is a premier interpreter of operatic, orchestral, chamber, and song repertoire. Her 2025–26 season includes a debut with the Houston Symphony in selections from La vida breve, a role and house debut as Ježibaba (Rusalka) with Pacific Northwest Opera, Die Hexe/Die Mutter (Hänsel und Gretel) with Lakes Area Music Festival, and appearances with the St. Louis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and Tucson Symphony as the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah.  

Sara’s latest triumphs include her San Francisco Opera debut as Rita in Poul Ruders’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a return to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Mrs. Sedley (Peter Grimes), her debut appearance in recital at the Manchester Music Festival, and her role debut as Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress) with Lakes Area Music Festival, as well as company debuts with The Philadelphia Orchestra as Mother/Chinese Cup/Dragonfly (L’enfant et les sortilèges), the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as the alto soloist in Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, the Seattle Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, and the California Symphony in songs by Mahler. Sara also recently released her debut solo album, Artur Schnabel—Complete Vocal Works, on the Steinway & Sons label.