Funded by a bursary from the Natal Playhouse Opera Studio in Durban, South Africa, Sally Silver gained a National Diploma in Instrumental Music while attending Opera School at the Academy of Music. In 1994 she was awarded the prestigious FNB Vita award for her performances as Violetta in La Traviata followed by the Opera South Africa prize in 1996. Performances in South Africa have included Violetta, Nedda, Susanna, Lauretta, Musetta, Oscar, Frasquita, Valencienne, Nannetta for all the major opera houses and at the Spier Festival in Stellenbosch as well as concerts with the national orchestras. In Europe roles include the Queen Marguerite Les Huguenots, Duchess Powder her Face Adès, Mila (world première), The Palace in the Sky by Jonathan Dove, Ännchen Der Freischütz, Mother Amahl and the Night Visitor, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte, Countess The Marriage of Figaro, Mimì La Bohème Hero Béatrice and Bénédict, Sashka The Electrification of the Soviet Union by Nigel Osborne and Violetta La Traviata. Her concert repertoire includes Strauss Four Last Songs, Berg’s Seven Early Songs, Berlioz Les Nuits D’Ete, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and his Fourth Symphony. Between 2003 and 2004 she premièred Songs of Five Rivers by Naresh Sohal with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Radio 3, and 3 Songs from Gitanjali for the Spitalfields Festival. Future performances include Strauss Four Last Songs, Sohal’s Songs of Five Rivers and, in 2005, Stonatrilla in L’Opera Seria (Nationalereisopera, Holland) and Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta in Tales of Hoffman (Metz, France). (November 2004)