She studied at the Greek National Conservatory with Maggie Karatza. She graduated in 1963 receiving a First Prize and a High Distinction Award.

She won a“Maria Callas” scholarship and perfected her studies at the Music Academy of Vienna as a post-grad student of Luise Scheid and Anton Dermota, with whom she specially worked at oratorio and Lied.

She participated in the International Singing Competition in Toulouse, France, winning a medal.

She was introduced to the French public in a soirée de gala at the Toulouse Opera House as well as in recitals at the French Radio Television.

She also gave recitals in Vienna at the Austrian Radio and performed the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” at Volksoper.

The same role she repeated at the Sofia Opera House in Bulgaria; in Rousse and Plovdiv she starred in “Rigoletto” and “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”.

She performed “La Traviata” at the Aachen Opera House.

She was a resident protagonist of the Greek National Opera House and starred in many productions.

She excelled in roles such as: the Queen of the Night and Pamina (Mozart: “Die Zauberflöte”), Violetta (Verdi: “La Traviata”), Gilda (Verdi: “Il Rigoletto”), Lucia (Donizetti: “Lucia di Lammermoor”), Amore (Gluck: “Orfeo ed Euridice”), Mimì and Musetta (Puccini: “La Bohème”), Najade (R. Strauss: “Ariadne auf Naxos”), Leïla (Bizet: “Les pêcheurs de perles”), Amina (Bellini: “La Sonnambula”), Belinda (Purcell: “Dido and Aneas”), Anna (Donizetti: “Anna Bolena”), Serafina (Donizetti: “Il Campanello”), Rosina (Rossini: “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”), Micaëla (Bizet: “Carmen”), Anne (Stravinsky: “The Rake’s Progress”), Elvira (Rossini: “L’ Italiana in Algeri”), Nedda (Leoncavallo: “I Pagliacci”), Le Feu (Ravel: “L' Enfant et les Sortilèges”), Rosalinde (J. Strauss: “Die Fledermaus”), Fiordiligi (Mozart: “Così fan tutte”), Olympia (Offenbach: “Les Contes d’ Hoffmann”), Erofili (Kalomiris: ”The Mother’sRing”), Cleopatra (Händel: “Giulio Cesare in Egitto”) etc.

She regularly appeared in recitals (mainly accompanied by the pianists Linda Leoussi and Aris Christofellis, who later stood out as a world renowned counter-tenor) and many times at the Greek Radio and Television.

She often participated as a soloist in concerts by the Athens State Orchestra, with which she sang the soprano part in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony conducted by Miltiadis Karidis at the Herod Atticus Odeon within the framework of the Athens Festival.

She was married to Giorgos Kavagias, a well-known Greek cinematographer.

She lost her life in a car accident on July 28, 1985.

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Her only official recording that has been released is her participation in the double LP (1987) “Greek National Opera: Unique interpretations”, where she sings the aria of the Queen of the Night “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” from Mozart’s opera “Die Zauberföte”. The material was actually recorded in 1979. The other participants are: Dimitri Kavrakos, Maria Koromantzou, Kiki Morfoniou, Alexandra Papadjakou, Sotos Papoulkas, George Pappas, Kostas Paskalis, Thanos Petrakis and Jeanette Pilou. The Orchestra of the Greek National Opera House is conducted by Dimitris Chorafas. (The record has been re-released in douple CD in 2008 by Lyra Classics).

Fofi Sarantopoulou can also be heard in the pianist Linda Leoussi’s CD ”Romantic works for piano by composers from the Ionian Islands”, where she sings the song “Girl wreathed with flowers” by George Labelet. The live performance took place at the Santorini Festival in September 1981.