Born in Yorkshire, Sarah Fox is one of the leading English sopranos of her generation. She was educated at Giggleswick School, London University and the Royal College of Music. A former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the John Christie Award, she is also an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway College, London University. She is equally at home in many musical genres including opera, folksong and musical theatre.
Roles at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden have included Micaela/Carmen, Asteria/Tamerlano, Zerlina/Don Giovanni and Woglinde/Der Ring des Nibelungen. Other highlights include Asteria in Munich and Barcelona (opposite Domingo); Zerlina at Glyndebourne and in Cincinnati; Woglinde for Salzburg & Aix-en- Provence festivals; Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne & The Royal Danish Opera; Ilia/Idomeneo with De Vlaamse Opera; and Mimi/La Bohème for Opera North.
Her prestigious concert career has taken her worldwide. Highlights have included engagements in Denver, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, The Faeroe Islands and Bermuda as well as tours throughout the UK, Europe & Scandinavia. She has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Academy of Ancient Music, Berlin Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Concerto Cologne, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia, the San Francisco Symphony and the Vienna Tonklunster Orchestra with conductors including Elder, Hickox, Maazel, Mackerras, Pappano & Rattle. She has appeared several times at the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh Festival & the Three Choirs Festival and is a regular guest with the Classical Opera Company and at London’s Wigmore Hall. She is also a highly accomplished recitalist with a particular affinity for French Song.
She performs frequently with John Wilson and his Orchestra; she is a regular guest on BBC Radio 2’s “Friday Night is Music Night”; and has performed a series of concerts with Rufus Wainwright in Europe. She was a judge on the second series of BBC TV’s “The Choir : Sing While You Work” with Gareth Malone.
Her discography includes Poulenc Songs (with Malcolm Martineau) for Signum Classics; Mahler’s 4th Symphony (Philharmonia/Mackerras and Philharmonia/Maazel) both for Signum; Vaughan Williams’ 3rd Symphony (Hallé/Elder) for the Hallé label; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem (Colorado Symphony Orchestra/ Litton) and Poulenc Songs (with Graham Johnson) both for Hyperion; Leighton’s 2nd Symphony (BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Hickox) for Chandos; “That’s Entertainment” (John Wilson Orchestra) for EMI classics; and “Cole Porter in Hollywood” (John Wilson Orchestra) for Warner Classics.

The Philharmonia was founded in 1945 by EMI producer Walter Legge, and has worked with a who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century music. Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali took up the baton as Principal Conductor in September 2021. The sixth person to hold the title, he is known for his expressive, balletic conducting style and irrepressible energy.
Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini, Riccardo Muti and Esa-Pekka Salonen are just a few of the great artists to be associated with the Philharmonia, and the Orchestra has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others.
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, in the heart of London, has been the Philharmonia’s home since 1995.
The Orchestra also has residencies at venues and festivals across England, each embracing a Learning & Engagement programme that empowers people to engage with, and participate in, orchestral music.
The Philharmonia’s international reputation is built in part on its extraordinary 76-year recording legacy, which in the last ten years has been built on by pioneering work with digital technology. The Orchestra’s installations and VR experiences have introduced hundreds of thousands of people to the symphony orchestra. The Philharmonia has won four Royal Philharmonic Society awards for its digital projects and audience engagement work.
The Philharmonia is the go-to orchestra for many film and videogame composers in the UK and Hollywood, and its music-making has been experienced by millions of cinema-goers and gamers. It has recorded around 150 soundtracks, with film credits stretching back to 1947.