Dramatic soprano Sarah Ashcroft VandenBrink is an American performer, educator, and music director. As a native of Holland and graduate of Hope College, she has recently returned to West Michigan after completing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Literature and a minor in Vocal Pedagogy from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where she also received her Master’s of Music.

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In college, Sarah double majored in Vocal Performance in Vocal Music Education. Equally passionate about both callings, she moved to Philadelphia, PA to complete her student teaching at the prominent Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School. While in Philadelphia, Sarah coached with Donald St. Pierre at the Curtis Institute of Music, which lead to her participation in the renowned Chautauqua Voice Summer Program.

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As an avid performer, Sarah has made a home on the stage. Her recent theatre credits include Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Lady Billows in Albert Herring, and Mrs. Grose in Turn of the Screw. She also sang Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with the Holland Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in numerous National Association of Teachers of Singing Voice Competitions, receiving first place regularly at both the State and Regional levels. Sarah also competed in the Opera Grand Rapids Collegiate Vocal Competition (now known as the VanderLaan Prize) becoming a finalist in 2010, and winning first place in 2011. That same year, she was also awarded the Sakiko Kanamori Prize.

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Presently, Sarah is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Hope College in Holland, MI. Her upcoming spring events include singing in the Michigan premiere of Allen Feinstein’s Fashion Goddess with the Hope College Wind Ensemble and music directing Hope College’s run of Bright Star by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. When neither teaching nor singing, Sarah runs a successful online vintage shop on Etsy and goes for long walks with her husband and two dogs.