Sarah Alainn - One (2022) [Hi-Res]

Sarah Àlainn grew up in Sydney, Australia to a father, a diplomat, and a musician for a mother. At the age of five she began playing violin, and by the time she was six her talent was discovered by Australian violinist Perry Hart, the star pupil of Szymon Goldberg, the legendary violinist who at the young age of 20 became the concertmaster for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. After winning a number of national contests, Sarah enrolled at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she studied under Polish violinist, Wanda Wilkomirska.

From childhood she also demonstrated a talent for singing, her vocal range spanning over 3 octaves. At 14 she auditioned for an operetta at the conservatory, where she was cast as the leading role of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. From that moment she began formal singing lessons under Australian soprano, Paula Clarkestone.

In 2006, Sarah enrolled at the University of Sydney under BA Arts Languages degree, where she studied linguistics and music (performance, composition and music theory). In the same year, she was inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society, offered only to students demonstrating excellence within the top 10% in the world. In 2007, she was awarded the Sarah Theresa Makinson composition prize from the music department, as well as the Walter Reid Memorial Award for academic achievement. For two consecutive years, she was awarded the academic merit prize for the highest performing undergraduate, and in 2010 Sarah graduated with a High Distinction average.

While eagerly pursuing her studies, Sarah was active as a violinist playing at the Sydney Parliament House, as well as the Sydney and Brisbane town halls alongside world-famous opera singers such as Yvonne Kenny (Soprano) and José Carbó (Baritone). Her performance as a guest musician in the documentary feature film on Charles Billich was aired on SBS.

In 2008, Sarah was among 25 students selected from all over the world to participate in an exchange program at the University of Tokyo.

Alongside her studies, Sarah made use of her talent for languages (including fluency in English, Japanese and Italian) for translating children's picture books as well as working as a freelance copywriter for international advertising agency, M&CSaatchi Japan. This activity included the publication of a translation of the Japanese picture book 'Ore Dare' (by Kodansha Ltd) under the title 'Who? Me!'. The picture book is distributed by Mitsubishi Corporation who delivers books to children across the globe. The book was then releasesed as an audio e-book in China as well as an interactive storybook app for ios with Sarah narrating on both these items.

In Japan, Sarah performed the much talked about vocals in the ending theme 'Beyond the Sky' of the Nintendo Wii game "Xenoblade", composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. Other notable works include the theme of the Square Enix iPhone game "Chaos Rings Ω", and her contribution as both lyricist and vocalist for the main theme of the game "Time Travelers" produced by Level 5 and composed by Hideki Sakamoto.

In 2012, Sarah signed a record deal with Universal Music Japan. Her debut album Celeste was released the same year and reached #1 on the iTunes Japan Vocal chart. Sarah has also been involved in the music for various TV commercials including SONYα7, Mitsubishi Corporation and Sunwa Shutter where she acts as a singer, violinist, lyricist and composer. In the critically acclaimed commercial for POLA which gained recognition for its fusion of rap, jazz and world music considered to be unusual for a cosmetics brand, Sarah directs the music and co-writes the lyrics.

Sarah is currently working on her second studio album produced by Yasunori Mitsuda, which is set to be released in Summer 2014.