Sadie Cheslak is a mezzo-soprano based in Chicago, Illinois and originally from Duluth, Minnesota. Originally drawn to opera for the grand dramatics and lush musical experience, she of course sings happily in the dramatic fach of both mezzo soprano and contralto repertoire. Bringing equal intensity and sensitivity to her work, she has been praised for her calm command of the stage and her warm, inviting presence in the rehearsal room. 

Most recently, Sadie has had a wealth of success in the competition world; in 2025 she won the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, receiving the Birgit Nilsson Award of the American Scandinavian Foundation. She also won 1st prize in the 2025 Jensen Vocal Competition, 1st prize at the New York Wagner Society’s Singers Competition, 1st prize at the 2025 Vero Beach Rising Stars Competition. She won the third prize, Luana DeVol Prize for the Dramatic Voice at the SAS Performing Arts Vocal Competition of 2024. Sadie won 1st place at the Donald Chen Young Artist Competition in Chicago, is a Lynn Harvey Foundation Award Winner through the Musicians Club of Women, is a winner of the American Opera Society of Chicago Competition, and won the award for Most Promising Voice of the Competition as well as 4th place overall at the 2024 NATS Artist Awards.

Sadie most recently spent a summer in San Francisco at the esteemed Merola Opera Program where she was featured in scenes as La zia Principessa in Suor Angelica by Puccini, as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare by Handel, and as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff by Verdi. Sadie covered the role of Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon with Cedar Rapids Opera as a young artist in their Winter 2025 season. Sadie was a 2024 Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera where she covered roles and was featured in their scenes program and concert series. In their 2024/25 season, she joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Supplemental Chorus, covering the role of Hortense in Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners and singing in La bohème by Puccini and Fidelio by Beethoven. She was seen as Olga Olsen in Street Scene by Kurt Weill with DePaul Opera Theatre. Before that, she joined DePaul for their production of Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten, singing the role of Florence Pike. Other roles include Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten, Maddalena in Rigoletto by Verdi, Kate and Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, and more.

Ms. Cheslak’s passion for the opera industry is showcased in her experience with newly composed works. In her graduate degree program she worked closely with budding young composers and established names in the industry, getting to sing the role of Lumee in a workshop production of prism by Ellen Reid, working with the librettist, director, composer, and Beth Morrison who produced this project through Lyric Theatre @ Illinois for its eventual premier at LA Opera. From there she went on to work with Lyric Theatre @ Illinois with Russian composer Ilya Demutsky as Jane Doe in Black Square, with Sky Macklay as the title role in The Surrogate, and as Mary in The New Motive Power by Elizabeth Gartman. Sadie covered the role of Mrs. Pascal in Wolf Trap Opera’s workshop of a new opera by Kamala Sankaram titled The House of Yes. 

Sadie is looking forward to a year of exciting concert solos, including Brahm’s Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 with the DePaul Community Chorus, the alto solos in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9  with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra (covered at Wolf Trap Opera with the National Symphony Orchestra), in Handel’s Messiah with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and with The North Shore and Evanston Choral Society in Gwyneth Walker’s Great Lakes Cantata. Past favorite concert works of Sadie’s include the Rachmaninoff The All-Night Vigil, Mendelssohn’s Op. 96 Drei geistliche Lieder, Dame Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D, C.P.E Bach’s Magnificat, and Respighi’s Lauda per la Natività del Signore. 

Miss Cheslak received her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota in 2017. She studied with mezzo-soprano, Dr. Holly Janz, and worked with coach, conductor and pianist, Stephen Sulich. She went on to receive a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Literature at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign where worked with Dr. Ollie Watts Davis and coached with Julie Gunn. After moving to Chicago during the pandemic, Sadie joined DePaul University’s Post-master’s Certificate in Voice program, where she studied with her current teacher, Dr. Linda Di Fiore and coached with Noah Lindquist and Hugh Russell. 

Sadie is thrilled to be joining the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program for San Francisco Opera’s 2026 season where she will cover Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini, and sing the Second Maid in Elektra by Strauss and Mary Seton in Mary, Queen of Scot by Thea Musgrave.