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Sara Macliver is one of Australia’s most popular and versatile artists, appearing in opera, concert and recital performances and on numerous recordings. She is regarded as one of the leading exponents of Baroque repertoire in Australia.
Sara Macliver trained in Perth, where she was a pupil of the renowned soprano Molly McGurk. During that time she was a Young Artist with the West Australian Opera Company. Her roles for the company have included Micaela (Carmen), Papagena (The Magic Flute), Giannetta (The Elixir of Love), Morgana (Alcina), Ida (Fledermaus), Nannetta (Falstaff) and Vespetta (Pimpinone). She has also performed the role of Angelica in Orlando with West Australian Opera and covered the role of Zerlina in the Opera Australia production of Don Giovanni.
Sara Macliver has is a regularly performs with Symphony Australia Orchestras in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmania, as well as Musica Viva, Melbourne Chorale, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australia Bach Ensemble and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs among others. She has particular association with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, with whom she recorded her first CD If Love’s a Sweet Passion, which was a finalist for the prestigious Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Award for Best Classical Release in 2000. 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, performances of a musical depiction of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin for Musica Viva, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Edo de Waart and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Projects for 2003 included Pinchgut Opera’s The Fairy Queen, tours with Musica Viva with the Australia Bach Ensemble and another with Bernadette Balkus, working with Christopher Hogwood on The Creation in Perth, and a recital in Melbourne and concerts with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony orchestras. Recent projects include concerts with the Melbourne, Queensland, West Australian, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra; a program based on the life of Jane Austen, with pianist Bernadette Balkus and Musica Viva. She also appeared in Pinchgut Opera’s productions of Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen to great critical acclaim. 2005 performances included the Sydney and Perth International Festivals and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and concerts with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
In 2006 Sara Macliver will perform and record with the West Australian, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Orchestras, and with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Sydney Chamber Choir amongst others.
Sara Macliver has a number of recordings to date for ABC Classics including Gabriel 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 George Frideric Handel’s Messiah for a joint ABC Classics and ABC Television production. This been released on CD and DVD, and screened several times on national television (i.e. ABC TV on Christmas Eve). Recently, ABC Classics released a disc of Bach arias and duets with Sara and mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell and Orchestra of the Antipodes conducted by Antony Walker. This has quickly become a best seller and was nominated for an ARIA award. This was followed by a disc of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater (ABC Classics) and other baroque duets, which won the inaugural ABC Classic FM listener’s choice award in 2005.
Sara Macliver greatly enjoys working with children, and has done a number of family concerts as well as the annual Christmas concert with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children. |
