Awash in col­or­ful orches­tra­tion made pos­si­ble by a larg­er orches­tra of strings, winds and plucked instru­ments, this unique pro­gram reflects a long-await­ed Sin­fo­nia buck­et list of con­tral­to and sopra­no arias that range from heartrend­ing to hilar­i­ous. Enjoy music of Bach, Han­del and Rameau, fea­tur­ing the artistry of ris­ing star sopra­no Chea Kang and the extra­or­di­nary con­tral­to Sara Couden.

Our Feb­ru­ary con­certs are ded­i­cat­ed to Sin­fo­nia Spirituosa’s trea­sur­er, Car­ol Per­rin, who passed away in Decem­ber 2023 after fight­ing mul­ti­ple bat­tles with can­cer. This ensem­ble exists because of her vision, pas­sion, and ded­i­ca­tion. We will for­ev­er be pro­found­ly grate­ful for Carol’s warm friend­ship and her unwa­ver­ing sup­port. Her loss is and will con­tin­ue to be keen­ly felt.

Amer­i­can con­tral­to Sara Couden is a pre­miere inter­preter of opera, ora­to­rio, cham­ber music, and art song. Praised by Opera News for her “unusu­al­ly rich and res­o­nant” voice, Sara has thrilled audi­ences world­wide on stages includ­ing the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Los Ange­les Phil­har­mon­ic, the Cincin­nati Sym­pho­ny, the Philadel­phia Orches­tra, the Charleston Sym­pho­ny, Phil­har­mo­nia Baroque Orches­tra and St. Pete Opera. Sara is a grad­u­ate of the Lin­de­mann Young Artist Pro­gram at the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Opera and earned a master’s degree with Hon­ors in Opera from the San Fran­cis­co Con­ser­va­to­ry of Music. She is also an ear­ly music enthu­si­ast and holds an A.D. in Ear­ly Music, Cham­ber Music, and Ora­to­rio from the Yale Insti­tute of Sacred Music.

Kore­an sopra­no Chea Kang holds a Master’s degree from the San Fran­cis­co Con­ser­va­to­ry of Music, and is cur­rent­ly earn­ing an Artist Diplo­ma at SFCM study­ing with César Ulloa. Ms. Kang made her San Fran­cis­co Opera debut last fall as Sis­ter Cather­ine in Dia­logues of the Carmelites. In the sum­mer of 2023 she was a young artist par­tic­i­pant at the Georg Solti Accad­e­mia Bel Can­to Course in Italy. She was the recip­i­ent of the John Erskin Prize at The Juil­liard School, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in 2021. Dur­ing her stud­ies at The Juil­liard School, she per­formed as a soloist in the 2020 pro­duc­tion of New York Fes­ti­val of Songs “Cubans in Paris,” led by Steven Bli­er at the Peter J. Sharp The­ater in New York City. Ms. Kang has per­formed lead­ing oper­at­ic roles at the San Fran­cis­co Con­ser­va­to­ry of Music, includ­ing Servil­ia in La Clemen­za di Tito by Mozart, Cleopa­tra in Giulio Cesare by Hän­del, Emil­ia in Flavio by Hän­del, La Princesse in L’en­fant et les sor­tilèges by Rav­el, and Lau­ret­ta in Gian­ni Schic­chi by Puccini.