timpone

Sahoko Sato Timpone
Mezzo-Soprano

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)

“Sahoko Sato Timpone gleefully embraces The Dragon Lady stereotype for her mirthfully steely characterization as Ms. Soon-Yi Nam.”
Theater Scene
“The Princess who tears it all apart was played by Sahoko Sato, and when she entered, her appearance and voice were the definition of elegance. Her gleaming mezzo fit the role of the princess very nicely.”
Opera Teen
“Among the impressive young cast members are Emma Grimsley as the sullen Barbara; Sahoko Sato Timpone as Ms. Soon-Yi-Nam, an assertive factory owner and Susana’s former employer (Mozart’s Marcellina); and Ethan Herschenfeld as Babayan, an Armenian mafioso (Mozart’s Bartolo.)”
New York Times
"The soloists were outstanding as well in their significant contributions. ...Mezzo Sahoko Sato Timpone had an extensive role which she delivered with marvelous richness and sensitivity. Her duet with Ms. Lamp in the Recordare was a musical high point. ...This group was the most professionally satisfying quartet of soloists that this reviewer has heard in a Music Worcester presentation."
Joyce Tamer
Worcester Telegram
'Opera Maine assembled a first-rate cast and orchestra to project the Wagnerian sense of dark romance into the far reaches of a well-populated Merrill on opening night....and Sahoko Sato Timpone (as Senta’s concerned companion), rounded out the main cast, adding their vocal talents to the touches of melodrama that occasionally drew chuckles from the crowd.'
Portland Press Herald
Mary in Flying Dutchman

Upcoming Events

December 8 & 10, 2023

MEZZO-SOPRANO SOLOIST, Messiah
Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra

March 13, 2024

MEZZO-SOPRANO SOLOIST, Mahler Symphony No. 3
Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra