Ithaca College

Soprano Sharon Sweet will return to the Ithaca College School of Music in early October to give two free master classes to voice students. Sweet—who has performed at such venues as the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Paris Opera and London’s Royal Opera House—earned her Master of Music degree from the school in 1978. The public is welcome to attend the classes, which are on Friday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 7, at noon, both in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

Sweet attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and began her international career with a concert performance of “Aida” in Munich, which brought her an invitation to join the Deutsche Oper Berlin at the beginning of the 1986–87 season. She subsequently performed in Vienna, Zurich and Hamburg.

In the spring of 1990, Sweet debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in “Il Trovatore.” She returned for following seasons in a variety of works, including “Don Giovanni,” “Tannhauser,” “Aida,” and in the title role in Puccini’s “Turandot.” Her most recent operatic debut was in the title role in Strauss’s “Ariadne auf Naxos,” which she sang in concert performances under Zubin Mehta with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since 1999 Sweet has been on the faculty at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where she is associate professor of voice. She is in frequent demand to lead master classes and to judge international competitions.