ZHENG

Sara Nealy is an arts consultant, an experienced executive, leader, communications professional, and the producer and presenter of both new works and standard repertoire operas. Her work encompasses the development, design, and production of creative approaches to reach and engage diverse communities. Sara is the former general director of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, CA, and former executive director of Livermore Valley Opera, Livermore, California. She currently serves as Executive Director of Kahilu Theatre in Waimea on Hawai'i Island.

 

She has presented a wide range of operatic productions from fully-staged standard rep operas such as Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Verdi's Otello and La Traviata, Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio, and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci to new works, such as Jack Perla's River of Light and Jake Heggie's Another Sunrise, as well as less-frequently-staged works such as Holst's Savitri, Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis, and Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins. She recently consulted on the world premiere opera Abraham in Flames by creator-librettist Niloufar Talebi and composer Aleksandra Vrebalov.

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Musical America named Nealy to the 2014 MA 30 Profiles in Courage.