BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Elementary music teacher by day, international opera star on the weekend.
Welcome to the whirlwind life of 2001 Illinois Wesleyan University graduate Sarah Sipll, who recently made her international opera debut in Mazatlan and Culiacan, Mexico. The debut, which occurred Friday, May 7, 2010, was a Wagner Gala concert with the Orqesta Sinfonica Sinaloa des las Artes.
Sipll, an instrumental music education major at IWU, earned her spot in the opera after placing second in the 2009 Concurso di Canto Sinaloa Vocal Competition in Culiacan, Mexico. The opportunity occurred after nine years of studying opera nights and weekends while juggling her full-time job teaching music at an elementary school in the Chicago-land area.
“I went to Culiacan thinking of it as another opportunity to sing for people,” said Sipll. “I had no idea I would advance to the finals, go on to win Second Place and be chosen to solo with the OSSLA and the Mexico City Philharmonic. It was quite an honor.”
According to reviews from Mexico, opera spectators in Mazatlan, Mexico felt the honor was theirs as they sat spellbound in the theater engulfed by Siplls voice, which rose and fell to the dramatic movements of the opera. Hector Guadado, a reviewer from Noroeste Mazatlan, described the voice of the young lead as “substantial and rich,” with the power to “assert itself over a large orchestra and reach bright high notes that impart a dark quality to her interpretation.”