Dr. Sara Chiesa

Special Faculty in Vocal Coaching & Collaborative Piano

Bio

Detroit-native Sara Chiesa is passionate about redefining leadership in the classical music industry with her work as an Educator, Music Director, and Pianist/Coach. She has performed with various opera companies throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and she is equally comfortable collaborating in the genres of opera, musical theatre, art song, and cabaret. 

As an Educator, Sara joined the music faculty of Carnegie Mellon University as Special Faculty in Vocal Coaching & Collaborative Piano in Fall 2024. In Summer 2023, she began her yearly summer position as Head of Collaborative Piano and Music Director/Pianist/Coach with La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy. Previously, she has served on the music faculties of the Wanda Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University; Utah State University in Logan, Utah; Molloy College in New York City; and the Vienna Summer Music Festival. She has been the Resident Guest Artist Coach with l’Opéra de Montréal, Fort Worth Opera, and Detroit Opera. 

As a Music Director, Sara has had a variety of projects that have taken her throughout the U.S. and abroad in recent years. She was the Music Director/Pianist for La Navarraise with West Texas A&M University Opera, the Assistant Music Director/Head Coach/Pianist for Suor Angelica in her Opera Omaha debut, and the Music Director from the keys for both Suor Angelica and Il trionfo dell'onore in Novafeltria, Italy. In a particularly beloved career highlight at Utah State University, Sara was the Assistant Music Director/Head Coach for the world premiere of Uncovered, a feminist and LGBTQ+ opera, written by composer Lori Laitman and librettist Leah Lax, that tells Leah’s story of being a queer woman who left Hasidism after nearly 30 years. 

As a Pianist/Coach, Sara has recently performed at Don’t Tell Mama with the Ginger Bess Band in a Halloween Vintage Cabaret. She has also produced and performed a recital with her former Oklahoma City University colleague, soprano Autumn West, on a faculty recital that featured repertoire from Mozart to Maltby & Shire. Sara has had an enduring relationship with the beloved opera company Resonance Works in Pittsburgh where she was the Rehearsal/Orchestral Pianist for Jorge Sosa & Cerise Jacobs’ I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, the Pianist/Coach for her fourth production of Rigoletto, and the Pianist/Coach for Side by Side by Sondheim. 

During the tumultuous time for the arts in the heart of the global pandemic, Sara maintained an active musical presence producing over 40 music videos, four live-streamed full recitals, and several remote opera projects. Additionally, she was honored to be the Pianist/Coach/Recording Engineer for the project The Black Composer Speaks, a recording of under-recorded or never recorded collected songs by Black composers. This project was created in partnership with Thomas Hampson of the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan.

Sara has worked in numerous opera spaces throughout the U.S. and abroad, some of which include the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy; Virginia Opera; Arizona Opera; Opera Saratoga; North Carolina Opera; Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre; Syracuse Opera; and New Opera Singapore.

Sara holds piano performance degrees from Oakland University (B.M.) and Bowling Green State University (M.M.), as well as a Doctor of Music in Collaborative Piano from Florida State University.