(Credit: Kristin Pulido)

Soprano Sarah Payne has died.

The soprano who hailed from South Florida studied at the Florida International University in Vocal Performance before doing her Masters in Mannes School of Music. 

Payne was a Semi-Finalist for the 2016 Elizabeth Connell Prize for Young Dramatic Sopranos and took home first Place in the 2015 St. Petersburg Opera Guild Voice Competition. She was a Regional Finalist in the 2014-15 Metropolitan Opera National Council and a Semi-Finalist in the 2015 Young Patronesses of the Opera Voice Competition as well as a finalist in the 2014 International Strauss Competition at the Mozarteum Summer Music Academy of Salzburg.  

She went on to perform at the Florida Grand Opera, Miami Music Festival, Utopia Opera, and FIU Opera Theater, among others.

Her repertoire included Lady Billows in Britten’s “Albert Herring,” Clotilde in Bellini’s “Norma,” the Governess in Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw,” and the Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” among others.

She is survived by her husband Sebastian Hernandez and will be honored in a free memorial concert at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at FIU.