Photo credit: Justin Sheely/The Sheridan Press
Handel’s Messiah with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
“For soprano Sarah Brailey, her greatest strength was how she delivered soft, sweet ascending lines near the conclusions of her gentlest arias, like how she sang “He shall speak peace unto the heathen” in a profoundly peaceful way. ”
The Pioneer Press (read complete review here)
Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with The Handel + Haydn Society
“…the real stand-outs were…especially the well-projected soprano of Sarah Brailey, a sound of remarkable purity that reminded me of Lynne Dawson and Lucy Crowe–a potential Baroque recording star.”
Opera UK
Haydn’s L’isola disabitata with the American Classical Orchestra
“Among the singers, soprano Sarah Brailey, as the abandoned damsel Costanza, made the biggest impact. The voice, with its quick vibrato, moved freely and accurately, the phrasing shaped through crisply articulated consonants.”
Opera News (read complete review here)
Webern’s Drei Lieder Gedichten von Hildegard Jone at the Times Arrow Festival
“For the last item, Webern’s Three Songs to Poems by Hildegard Jone, Op. 25, the vocal cast seemed to call up reinforcements in the person of soprano Sarah Brailey. While one had sensed the other singers singing with power in reserve, Brailey drew liberally on her reserves to hit the dramatic highs and lows of Webern’s most starkly contrasted writing. Like her colleagues on this program, she could also neatly turn a phrase and find the expressive thread in Webern’s most disjunct vocal lines.
It made a brilliant finish to a program that left one, would you believe it, wishing for still more Webern.”
New York Classical Review (read complete review here)
Rorem with Brooklyn Art Song Society
“To Brailey fell the treat of singing songs in which Rorem was alternately wistful, as in the simple, lovely setting of Elinor Wiley’s ‘Little Elegy’; ebullient, as in Roethke’s ‘I Strolled Across an Open Field’; and uncharacteristically nostalgic in his arrangement of Stephen Foster’s parlor song, ‘Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair’. With her gleaming, bright soprano, she seemed to effortlessly capture the subtle nuances of these little gems.”
Seen and Heard International (read complete review here)
Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Back Bay Chorale
“…soprano Sarah Brailey sang the “Laudamus te” with rich, buttery tone. She and Yanovitch combined forces in a conversational “Christe eleison,” each singer seeming to finish the other’s sentences.”
Boston Classical Review (read complete review here)
Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with the Handel + Haydn Society
“…in soprano Sarah Brailey’s limpid spellbinding voice, not even the lyric “clap, clap, clap” could sound awkward.”
The Boston Globe (read complete review here)
Handel’s Messiah with Trinity Wall Street
“Soprano Sarah Brailey brought tonal elegance and expressive fervor to “He shall feed his flock” and again to a splendid closing account of “If God be for us.”
San Francisco Chronicle (read complete review here)
Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with the Handel + Haydn Society
“Two soprano soloists, Sarah Brailey and Sonja DuToit Tengblad stood
out in a raft of rapidly shifting characterizations.”
The New York Times (read complete review here)
Mozart’s Requiem with The Dessoff Choirs
“Soprano Sarah Brailey, who can make her voice materialize out of nothingness rather than simply “enter,” gave particularly moving accounts of her opening and closing solos.”
Theater Scene (read complete review here)
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Trinity Wall Street
“Four excellent vocal soloists — the soprano Sarah Brailey, the mezzo-soprano Melissa Attebury, the tenor Vale Rideout and the bass-baritone Dashon Burton — sat in the first pew of the church until their moment came in the last movement, when they rose to face the audience, seated right before them, and sang splendidly. I have seldom been so swept away by the ‘Ode to Joy’ choral finale. At the end, the ovation was tremendous.”
The New York Times (read complete review here)
Brahms’ Requiem with the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble
“Of the two vocal soloists, soprano Sarah Brailey soars in her one solo movement, evoking a mother’s comforting.”
The Isthmus (read complete review here)
Photo credit: Jessica Meyer
Jessica Meyer’s The Last Rose with Lorelei Ensemble
“A world premiere of ‘The Last Rose,’ by Jessica Meyer…reached one of the evening’s high points. The fearless doubler, soprano/cellist Sarah Brailey made of it something truly affecting.”
The Boston Music Intelligencer (read complete review here)
Britten’s Les Illuminations with NOVUS NY
“…radiant, liquid tone,” “…exquisitely phrased,” “…warm and vibrant”
The New York Times (read complete review here)
Handel’s Messiah with Trinity Wall Street
“Singers like Mr. Burton and the exquisite soprano Sarah Brailey, who ascended the pulpit to deliver the sweetly dazzling “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,” are in growing demand as soloists.”
The New York Times (read complete review here)
Bach’s St. John Passion with the Boulder Bach Festival
“The palm, however, goes to the vocal soloists. These five performances alone would have made the presentation of the Passion one of the finest Bach Festival events in its history.”
– The Daily Camera (read complete review here)
Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Princeton Pro Musica
“…with Ms. Brailey showing an especially rich sound which rang with bell-like quality in the upper register.”
– Town Topics (read complete review here)
GRAMMY-nominated album Sing Thee Nowell with New York Polyphony
“For this exquisite carol, a modern lullaby that reconciles the calm of the stable with Christ’s inevitable death, guest sopranos Brailey and Baber-Weaver again join the quartet to deliver what is perhaps the most poignant moment of Sing Thee Nowell.”
– Musical America (read complete review here)
Photo credit: Sarah V. at concertmanic.com
John Zorn’s Madrigals
“Those singers and three more — the sopranos Lisa Bielawa and Sarah Brailey, and the mezzo-soprano Abby Fischer — brought the same exactitude and luster to “Madrigals,” for which Mr. Zorn assembled phrases inspired by reading Percy Bysshe Shelley.”
– The New York Times (read complete review here)
John Zorn’s Holy Visions
“The Holy Visions,” sung by Jane Sheldon, Sarah Brailey, Abby Fischer, Mellissa Hughes and Kirsten Sollek, sounded ravishing in the Medieval Sculpture Hall.”
– The New York Times (read complete review here)
John Zorn’s Holy Visions
“I have had the pleasure of hearing a few live performances of The Holy Visions; this one was my favorite. The resonant yet clear acoustic of the Fuentidueña Chapel brought out the very best qualities in this music. The expert a capella vocal ensemble of Jane Sheldon, Eliza Bagg, Sarah Brailey, Rachel Calloway and Kirsten Sollek made it sound effortless and effusive. The end effect was the creation of an air of meditative serenity.”
– Opera News (read complete review here)
Ralf Yusuf Gawlick’s Missa Gentis Humanae
“Wachner has chosen these singers for the ravishing beauty and variety of their sounds (their virtuosic mastery of pitch and expression go without saying). The performance was emotionally epic: every kaleidoscopic transition of texture and timbre was controlled perfectly, with great intelligence.”
– The Boston Music Intelligencer (read complete review here)