Quick Facts
Biography
Sally Helanna Matthews (born July 1975) is a British soprano opera singer.
Early life
She was born in Southampton. Her father was an aspiring popular musician.
She attended The Gregg School, a local independent school. She went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Career
She made her professional debut at the Royal Opera House in January 2001 as Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff conducted by Bernard Haitink. She trained under the institution's Young Artist Programme from 2001-2003.
She made her BBC Proms debut in 2001 in Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, performing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
She was a member of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme from 2002-2004. She played Josephine in the acclaimed BBC Proms version of H.M.S Pinafore.
In 2014 Naïve released the first-ever recording of Le Vaisseau fantôme by Dietsch, conducted by Marc Minkowski with Matthews as Minna. Other recordings by Matthews include Schubert and Strauss lieder, Der Freischütz under Colin Davis and Carmina Burana with the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle.