Dr. Sarah Luebke is a 2025 American Prize Second Place Winner and a versatile soprano recognized for her artistry as both performer and pedagogue. Hailed by mezzo-soprano Suzanne Mentzer as “a thinking artist…a mature artist in the best sense, whose musicality stands out in a crowd, producing wonderful sounds with a playful spirit and wide range,” Dr. Luebke is particularly celebrated for her compelling interpretations of contemporary vocal repertoire. In May 2026, she will make her National Sawdust debut performing Jennifer Higdon’s Love Sweet song cycle.
A trailblazing advocate for 21st-century vocal music, she has collaborated with and performed works by Chen Yi, Missy Mazzoli, Benjamin Moore, James Whitbourn, and other living composers. She brings intellectual depth, vocal clarity, and expressive range to newly written works while maintaining an active presence in standard concert and operatic repertoire.
Dr. Luebke has appeared as a soloist in major concert works including Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Sibelius’ The Tempest, Whitbourn’s Annelies, and Fauré’s Requiem. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2023 performing Vivaldi’s Magnificat.
Her operatic roles include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Monica (The Medium), Serpina (La serva padrona), Nora (Riders to the Sea), Isabelle Eberhardt (Songs from the Uproar), Masha (Enemies: A Love Story), Juno (The Tempest), Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Rose Maybud (Ruddigore), and La Fée (Cendrillon), among others. She performed as a young artist with the Twin Cities Opera Guild and the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Festival.
Recognized for excellence in teaching, Dr. Luebke was selected for the prestigious 2022 NATS Intern Program and received both the 2022 NATS Mario Martinez Intern Prize and the 2020 Eastman School of Music Teaching Assistant Prize. Her students have won and placed in major competitions including the National Classical Singer Competition, Schmidt Vocal Competition, Schubert Club Competition, state, regional, and national NATS auditions, and The Voice(NBC). They have been accepted to leading institutions including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Interlochen Summer Music Festival, and Brevard Music Festival, and several now serve on university and conservatory faculties across the United States.
An active lecturer and clinician, Dr. Luebke presents at National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and College Music Society (CMS) conferences and offers masterclasses, recitals, and workshops nationwide.
Dr. Luebke is Assistant Professor of Voice at Bowling Green State University. Prior to her appointment at BGSU, she taught applied voice and pedagogy at SUNY Fredonia and French lyric diction at the Eastman School of Music. She holds a DMA in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music, an MM from the University of Kentucky, and a BM from St. Olaf College. Her principal teachers include Kathryn Cowdrick, Robert McIver, Everett McCorvey, and Louise Toppin.
