“Slender and petite Belgian soprano Sarah Defrise is a vocal giant” (La Tribuna de Ciudad Real – Teatro Real Madrid). Sarah Defrise is a young Belgian soprano whose acting and piano training have contributed to a distinctive stage personality and to an eclectic repertoire ranging from chamber music and opera to recitals with orchestra and solo-voice performances. With a particular affinity for 20th- and 21st-century music, she has developed close artistic relationships with a number of leading contemporary composers and has rapidly established herself as one of the most compelling young voices in the field.
Her international career began with her acclaimed performance as the Teenager in Jean-Luc Fafchamps’ Is this the end? at La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels. In 2022, she made her debuts at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and the Grand Théâtre de Genève as The Girl in Peter Eötvös’ Sleepless, a role written for her. “Her crystalline voice and impressive tops were absolutely stunning” (Crescendo Magazine). She went on to create Naomi in Bernard Foccroulle’s Cassandra at La Monnaie in 2023 and reprise the role at the Staatsoper Berlin in 2025. In the 2025/26 season, she created Vampi in Olga Neuwirth’s Monster’s Paradise, first at the Hamburgische Staatsoper and then at Opernhaus Zürich, under Titus Engel and in Tobias Kratzer’s production. She also appeared with the Berliner Novoflot Opera Company in the world premiere of The Fifth Season – Fat Tuesday at the Greek National Opera. This season, she will sing the Title Role in Ophelias Flügel by Sarah Nemtsov in Stadttheater Bern
Sarah is a sought-after interpreter of contemporary vocal music. She has performed Ligeti’s Aventures/Nouvelles Aventures, Mysteries of the Macabre and Requiem at Müpa and BMC Budapest, notably under Peter Eötvös and Gregory Vajda. Her concert repertoire includes major works of the modern and contemporary repertoire. She was invited to sing Ligeti's Requiem in Müpa for The LIGETI100 Festival in Budapest. In the 2024/25 season, she performed Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège under Karel Deseure. In the 2026/27 season, she performs Boulez’s Le Marteau sans maître in Barcelona and Grisey’s Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil on tour in Spain. She sang in Mahler's Fourth Symphony with Etesiane Orchestra with Gabriel Hollander in BOZAR, Brussels. She gives the world premiere of Jean-Luc Fafchamps’ La Messe des Glaces at the Ars Musica Festival with the Choeur de Chambre de Namur. She has worked with ensembles and orchestras including the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Symphony Orkest Vlaanderen, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Etesiane, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse and Orchestre Symphonique de Flandre, Ensemble Contrechamps, Ensemble Ascolta, Ensemble Fractales, Sturm und Klang, UMZE Ensemble, Sonido Extremo Ensemble, Vertixe Sonora Ensemble, Diachronie Ensemble, dissonART Ensemble. She premiered music by Peter Eötvös, Olga Neuwirth, Sarah Nemtsov, Stefan Prins, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Michael Wertmüller, Antonis Anissegos, Natacha Diels, Denis Bosse, Thierry Huillet, Nicholas Stücklin.
Her work increasingly extends beyond singing. She is the author and performer of I Hate New Music!, a one-woman show combining contemporary music and stand-up comedy. The production returns to the stage in Switzerland and Belgium in 2026/27. She will also make her directorial debut at the NOF Festival in Fribourg with a new Pierrot Lunaire, combining works by Arnold Schoenberg and Max Kowalski.
Her traditional opera repertoire includes Zdenka in Strauss’ Arabella at the Teatro Real Madrid, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Christophe Rousset, Cunégonde in Bernstein’s Candide, Bacchis in Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène, Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème and Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff. Her performance as Zdenka was praised for her “perfect phrasing and beautiful lyrical voice” (Opernmagazin) and her “magnificent” portrayal of a “complex role full of implications and details” (El Debate).
Sarah has released two solo albums: the complete songs of Joseph Jongen, Entrevisions & Fêtes rouges (Musique en Wallonie), and For Cathy, an a cappella album dedicated to Cathy Berberian (Sub Rosa). In 2022, she received the Caecilia Prize as “Young Musician of the Year” and was named “Musician of the Year” by the Belgian Musical Press in 2023.
Born into a Belgian-American family, Sarah began her musical education on the piano at the age of four. She holds a Master in Music from the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and a PhD in the Arts from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Since 2022, she has been a member of the Collegium of the Royal Academy of Belgium.