Biography

The "impressive" (New York Times) and "rich, glowing" (New York Arts) mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone made her Carnegie Hall debut in Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, narrated by Christopher Plummer, and has since appeared in opera and concerts throughout North America, Asia, and Europe.

Ms. Timpone's recent engagements include Verdi's Requiem with Masterwork Chorus at Carnegie Hall, Music Worcester, Cambridge Symphony, and Battenkill Chorale, Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer with Opera Maine,  Mahler's Rückert Lieder and Second Symphony with Florida State University Symphony, Mozart's Requiem with the Tallahassee Community Chorus,  Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Marthe in Faust with St. Petersburg Opera. In addition, her first solo CD, Songs of Japonisme – Early 20th Century Art Song from Japan and the West with pianist Kenneth Merrill, was recently released from London-based Sheva Collection and Naxos USA. Her upcoming performances include alto soloist in Handel's Messiah and Mahler's Third Symphony with Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. 

Notable highlights of previous seasons include appearances under the baton of Seiji Ozawa in Elektra with Tokyo Spring Festival (former Tokyo Opera Nomori), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Saito Kinen Festival, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and Rosina (cover) in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Seiji Ozawa Opera Academy. She has also performed Suzuki with Syracuse Opera, Nevada Opera, New Rochelle Opera and Opera Camerata of Washington, Cherubino with Syracuse Opera and West Virginia Symphony, Mercédès in Carmen with Opera Maine (former PORTopera), Miss Todd in The old maid and the thief with Berkshire Opera, Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Baltimore Opera, and Pitti-Sing in Mikado, Maddalena in Rigoletto and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Chautauqua Opera, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, and the New York premiere of Carlisle Floyd's last opera, Prince of Players with the Little Opera Theatre of New York. In 2016 and 2017, she made her Off-Broadway debut to critical acclaim as Ms. Sun-Yi Nam in ¡Figaro90210! (Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro).

On the concert stage, her past performances include Verdi's Requiem with the New York Choral Society, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and United Nations with New York Symphonic Ensemble and Canadian Symphony Orchestra of NYC, Bruckner's Te Deum, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, and Alexander Nevsky with Queensboro Symphony, Handel's Messiah with Singapore Symphony, and solo engagements with Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, and Sapporo Symphony.

She is also an advocate for new music and art song. She frequently performs in recitals nationally and internationally with appearances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Steinway Hall, NATS Art Song Composition Award Recital, Art Song Preservation Society of New York, Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute in Utica, NY, American Musicological Society, Lunigiana International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy, Alion Baltic International Music Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, Tokyo International Vocal Academy, Ecuador's Fundacion Cultural Armonia, Bangkok, Thailand, sponsored by the Nomura Cultural Foundation, and in Granada, Spain, as a winner of the First Miguel Zanetti International Spanish Song Competition. She is also featured in David Soldier's new opera Eighth Hour of Amduat (Mulatta Records) as Mistress of the Boat and in a jazz arrangement of Time to Say good-bye in jazz trumpeter James Zollar's CD, Zollar Systems (JZAZ Records).

A native of Tokyo who grew up in Germany and the United States, Ms. Timpone currently serves on the voice faculty at Florida State University. She is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music (MM), New England Conservatory (BM), and Rutgers University (DMA), where she received the Irene Alm Memorial Prize for excellence in performance and scholarly research. Additionally, she is a licensed kimono dresser and has studied Japanese tea ceremony (Urasenke School) and Japanese kabuki-style dance (Sōke Fujima School).

(Updated in September 2023)