Sarah Mileham is a 21 year old Soprano of Korean, British and New Zealand heritage. Growing up in Tairua and Cambridge, she was always singing and dancing to anyone that would watch. After moving to Tauranga for schooling, her love for classical music was born through involvement in choirs and school musicals. From there, she decided to pursue further education and fell in love with Opera after watching the dress rehearsal of The Marriage of Figaro by NZ Opera in 2021.
Since then, Sarah has completed her Bachelor of Music at Victoria University of Wellington under the tutelage of Soprano Jenny Wollerman and Bass Wade Kernot. This year, she has moved to Hamilton for her Honours year under the teaching of Soprano Anna Leese.
In the last year, Sarah has enjoyed entering the world of Opera. Her first experience was singing in the chorus of Wellington Opera’s production Lucia di Lammermoor in 2023. After beginning this year at NZ Opera School, Sarah has been singing the role of Adina in Donizetti’s Elixir of Love on NZ Opera’s school’s tour. She is then singing in the chorus for NZ Opera’s Le comte ory by Rossini and finishing the year with her debut role as Countess Ceprano in NZ Opera’s production Rigoletto by Verdi.
Sarah also frequently sings across the country in concerts and competitions. She has sung repertoire from sacred oratorio to debuting NZ compositions. Some highlights include Mozarts Reqiuem with Cantoris and the Wairarapa singers, singing alongside Teddy Tahu Rhodes at Canterbury Opera’s sponsors concert, singing with Bianca Andrews at the DMMF Wellington fundraiser concert, and premiering two NZ composer song cycles with Wellington City Creative NZ.
Sarah has enjoyed getting into singing in competitions around the country. Her first aria competition was last year in Christchurch and she was ecstatic to have been awarded runner up. She continued to Wellington Aria competition where she received runner up, and then made it to the finals of Lockwood NZ Aria. She started of this year with placing first in the Nicholas Tarling Aria competition and is looking forward to singing with the Manakau Symphony Orchestra in the winners concert later this year.
Sarah has been the proud recipient of the Jann Medlicott Creative Arts Scholarship funded by the Acorn Foundation, the Moyra Todd Scholarship funded by the Todd Foundation, Kāpiti Chorale Award in Vocal Performance, and the Merle Higgie Opera Prize for Potential at the NZ Opera School 2024. She is incredibly thankful for all the support she has received from those around her and these awards and scholarships have been a huge helping hand in the progression of her career.
Sarah’s dream is to take her voice abroad and sing in the incredible opera houses that other NZ Sopranos have conquered. She looks forward to making that a reality by taking the big step of leaving Aotearoa and finding the right institution/teacher.