SALLY PORTER MUNRO (Mezzo Soprano)

Sally was born in London and is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England. While living in England she sang with the English National Opera, Royal Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels, and as an oratorio soloist in Europe. She also performed with the BBC Singers on radio and television.

She relocated to New York City where she was soloist with many choirs, her wide repertoire spanning early music to 20th century works. Since moving to San Francisco, Ms. Munro has sung with Pocket Opera, Berkeley Opera, North Bay Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Bear Valley Music Festival, Lake Tahoe Festival, and the San Francisco Opera. Her roles include Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte), Cherubino (Marriage of Figaro), Siebel (Faust), Tisbe (Cenerentola), Beppe (L’Amico Fritz), Emilia (Otello), Rosina (Barber of Seville), Adalgisa (Norma) and Charlotte (Werther).

Ms. Munro made her debut with the Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and performed the role of the Duchess in the American premier of the opera ‘Powder Her Face’ by Thomas Ades with Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. She sang Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Vivaldi’s Gloria with the San Francisco Russian Chamber Orchestra.

She became a full time member of The San Francisco Opera Chorus in 1995 and has covered and sung many small roles including the Beggar Woman in Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice and a Bridesmaid in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. Ms. Munro’s recent concertizing includes recitals with the San Francisco Lyric Quartet and the Capriccio Quartet as well as solo concerts in the Bay Area, New York City and London.

In the spring of 2004 she gave a number of recitals in Cape Town, South Africa and performed with the Cape Town University Orchestra. Ms. Munro has taken part in several concerts with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra as soloist in Haydn’s Scena di Berenice.

She was the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Master Works Chorale, and the Vivaldi Gloria in Oakland and made her debut as soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with performances in the Herbst Theater, San Francisco and Berkeley, California.

In 2003 Ms Munro made her first visit to St Petersburg, Russia where she joined the Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet in three concerts. Since then she has forged a close relationship with the quartet giving concerts in St Petersburg, New York and The San Francisco Bay Area.

During the 2005 tour in Russia she performed as soloist with The Chamber Orchestra of Novgrod and gave a solo recital in Archangel. In January, 2006 she sang as soloist with Orchestra Classic in St Petersburg.   She enjoys collaborating with contemporary composers and has performed new works by Allen Shearer, Marge Wheeler, Louise P. Canepa and the acclaimed British composers Ian Venables and Peter Dyson.

Ms. Munro has an extensive singing teaching practice in San Francisco where she is a faculty member of the San Francisco Girls’ Chorus. She graduated from the Alexander Technique Institute of San Francisco in 1996 and is certified as a teacher by The American Society for the Alexander Technique.