American soprano Sarah Nalty is a passionate performer whose varied and international repertoire ranges from the American to Mandarin to Ukrainian, and spans the Medieval era to the 21st century. Her 2024-25 season included Britten's Les illuminations at Bard with Euterpe Ensemble, and Stella (cover) in Viardot's Le dernier sorcier at Bard Music Festival. Her fall season began at Hudson Hall in a work-in-progress performance of American Terror, a new opera by Jeffrey Lependorf. She also reached the semi-finals of the Federation of the Art Song Fellowship Competition with pianist Gabrielė Żemaitytė. In the 2023-2024 season, she appeared as Rosa in Rumshinsky's Yiddish operetta Shir Hashirim with the YIVO Institute in New York City, as Minerve in Orphée aux enfers with Bard Conservatory, and Saariaho's From the Grammar of Dreams at Bard's annual Kurtág Festival. She closed her time at Bard as Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) in the Italian Arias and Scenes program, and with a full-length recital featuring Fauré's La bonne chanson and Bartók's Dedinské scény, with pianist Gabrielė Żemaitytė. In Fall 2023, she was a Finalist in Bard's annual Concerto Competition, singing Britten's Les illuminations at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Alongside her Bard colleagues, she also curated and performed in Visitors, a song recital examining the American immigrant experience, in partnership with the Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History.

In the 2022-23 season, Sarah joined the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard Conservatory. Season highlights with Bard included Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Mauricio Kagel's Der Turm zu Babel, and Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) in the German Opera Scenes program. She was also a featured soloist in "Berlin im Licht: A German Cabaret" at the Fisher Center and a Goethe Liederabend at Beattie-Powers Place (Catskill, NY). Sarah finished her season in Lewisburg, PA with the Berkeley-Bucknell Chamber Music Collective, where she sang Lieder by Fanny Mendelssohn and excerpts from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (as Contessa), with fortepiano and other period instruments.

Previously, Sarah attended New England Conservatory, where she appeared regularly with the Undergraduate Opera Studio, and in the Liederabend series. In 2021, she performed Elle in Poulenc’s La voix humaine on the steps of Jordan Hall as part of an outdoor, socially-distanced concert. That same year, she presented a recital of Ives, Poulenc, Strozzi and Schubert. Previous season highlights included scenes performances as Norina (Don Pasquale) and Marzelline (Fidelio), and Liederabend performances of Robert Schumann and Poulenc.

A frequent recitalist, she has performed in numerous Liederabende in the Hudson Valley, Boston, and Graz, Austria. While attending the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, she was recognized with the prestigious Harold Heiberg Liedersänger Preis for her performances. In her concert work, Sarah often programs under-performed repertoire from the Eastern European canon, presenting works by Czech, Russian, Polish, Hungarian & Ukrainian composers, such as Vítězslava Kaprálová, Béla Bartók & Yakiv Stepovyi. 

Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Sarah was a long-time member of the Peabody Children’s Chorus, with whom she sang numerous performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music from New England Conservatory and is recently completed her graduate studies at Bard Conservatory, under the tutelage of Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, Stephanie Blythe, Kayo Iwama, and Erika Switzer. She is now based in New York City, and works as a solo and choral freelancer. She currently studies with Bryce McClendon.