Sara Chiesa
Detroit-native Sara Chiesa is passionate about redefining leadership in the classical music industry with her work as a Music Director, Pianist/Coach, and Educator. She has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She is a crossover specialist who is equally comfortable collaborating in the genres of opera, musical theatre, art song, and cabaret.
As a Music Director, Chiesa is returning to West Texas A&M University Opera for Don Giovanni in 2026 after a successful WTAMU production of La Navarraise in 2023. She has been the Head of Collaborative Piano and Music Director/Pianist for three summers with La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy – musically leading Gianni Schicchi in 2025, Suor Angelica in 2024, and Il trionfo dell'onore in 2023. Other MD credits include the Assistant Music Director/Pianist for Suor Angelica with Opera Omaha and the Music Director/Onstage Pianist for Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story, Oklahoma!, and Always…Patsy Cline with Highlands Playhouse.
As a Pianist/Coach, Chiesa enjoys an enduring relationship with the Pittsburgh-based opera company Resonance Works where she has been the Pianist/Coach for Jorge Sosa & Cerise Jacobs’ I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, for her fourth production of Rigoletto, and for Side by Side by Sondheim.
Recent career highlights include her role as Music Director/Pianist where she led Sondheim's Putting it Together from the keys with CMU's School of Music; Assistant Music Director/Head Coach for the Utah State University world premiere of Uncovered, a true-story lesbian abortion drama set in the Hasidic community written by composer Lori Laitman and librettist Leah Lax; and Assistant Music Director/Head Coach for the Oklahoma City University production of Rent.
Chiesa has been the Resident Guest Artist Coach with L'Opéra de Montréal, Fort Worth Opera, and Detroit Opera. Additional collaborations with professional companies include the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy; the Prague International Piano Masterclasses; Virginia Opera; Arizona Opera; Modesto Opera; Fresno Grand Opera; Opera Saratoga; North Carolina Opera; Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre; Syracuse Opera; and New Opera Singapore.
As an Educator, Chiesa joined the music faculty of Carnegie Mellon University as Special Faculty in Vocal Coaching & Collaborative Piano in Fall 2024. She maintains a coaching studio of vocal performance and collaborative piano students, and she teaches courses in Graduate Italian, French, and German Diction; Graduate Recitative; Graduate Lit and Rep – the Song Rhymes of Sondheim; and Undergraduate Opera Workshop. Chiesa regularly serves as the Head Coach for CMU School of Music productions including Alcina and L'Étoile, with the latter being led by Metropolitan Opera Director Gina Lapinski. In 2026, she will represent CMU at the 2026 National Opera Association (NOA) Conference presenting on the topic of “Musical Theatre for Today’s Opera Singer and Pianist: Practical, Artistic, and Professional Considerations” alongside Drs. Patrick McNally and Autumn West.
Previously, Chiesa has served on the music faculties of the Wanda Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University; Utah State University in Logan, Utah; and Molloy University in New York City.
Chiesa is currently based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and she holds piano performance degrees from Oakland University (B.M.) and Bowling Green State University (M.M.), as well as a Doctor of Music (D.M.) in Collaborative Piano from Florida State University.