Sarah Leonard was born in Winchester and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She has a wide repertoire and a particular interest in performing music of this century. She has worked with many leading composers. She made her debut at La Scala, Milan, in 1989 in the premiere of Dr Foustus by Giacomo Manzoni and has appeared in chamber operas by Erika Fox and Bennett Hogg for the Royal Opera's Garden Venture. She has given many staged performances of Ligeti's Aventures et Nouvelles Aventures with the Ensemble Recherche, and during the 1994/5 season sang thirty performances of To be Sung, a new opera by the young French composer Pascal Dusapin, to great acclaim in France and Germany.