Violinist Sarah Thomas is a performer and educator based in New York City driven by collaboration and connection with both performers and audiences. Making music meaningfully requires community, where all involved have an opportunity to listen, share, and connect. Whether she’s performing “old” or “new” music in someone’s living room or a large concert hall, Sarah strives to create an environment for everyone present to share the experience of loving music together.
Sarah is a founding member of the Bergamot Quartet, a string quartet fueled by a passion for exploring and advocating for the music of living composers. Bergamot has performed in venues and series including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Boulanger Initiative’s WoCo Fest, the Banff Centre, Evolution Contemporary Music Series, and Sō Percussion’s Brooklyn Bound Series. As part of its mission to empower young artists to create, perform and engage with new music, Bergamot has given workshops and lectures at universities including Princeton University, Peabody Conservatory, New York University, Towson University, University of Baltimore, Shenandoah Conservatory, and University of Texas-El Paso and served as ensemble-in-residence for the MATA Jr. and Junior Bach programs for young composers.
In addition to being part of the Bergamot family, Sarah has performed with a variety of ensembles and musicians, including Alarm Will Sound, Sō Percussion, arx duo, earspace ensemble, Ensemble Klang, S.E.M. Ensemble, Claire Chase, Dan Trueman, Dan Lippel, Courtney Orlando, and Terry Sweeney.
During her time as a student at the Peabody Conservatory, Sarah was a co-director of the Peabody String Sinfonia, a conductor-less string orchestra whose mission is to bring healing and beauty to people in Baltimore. For Sarah, Sinfonia opened up a new way of creating audience-performer relationships, with concerts repeatedly breaking down the fourth wall. Audience members shared memories the music inspired, gave encouragement and asked questions throughout the concerts, and one time even surprised the ensemble by joining in with their own percussion instruments.
An educator as well as a performer, Sarah is on staff at the Peabody Conservatory’s LAUNCHPad, where she supports students and recent alumni in their career pursuits through professional skills coaching, grant program management, and curricular support for core Professional Studies courses. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Peabody’s Professional Studies Department where she teaches the courses Building a Brand & Portfolio and Pitching Your Creative Idea, which she helped develop alongside her LAUNCHPad colleagues. Sarah also regularly coaches chamber music and presents workshops and lectures with the Bergamot Quartet in settings ranging from elementary schools to doctoral programs.
In addition to teaching music, Sarah loves the written language and works as a freelance writer for The Jazz Gallery’s blog, Jazz Speaks. During her graduate studies at Peabody, she conducted research on Peabody’s history, publishing an online exhibit and paper titled A Message of Inclusion, A History of Exclusion on the Arthur Friedheim Library’s website.
Sarah has attended festivals and academies including the Banff Centre Evolution of the String Quartet Program, New Music on the Point, Klangspuren Chamber Music Lab, Academy Quatuor Diotima, Garth Newel Emerging Artists Fellowship Program, and Yellow Barn Young Artists Program. At Peabody, Sarah received awards including the Hugh Hawkins Research Fellowship, the Artistic Excellence Award, and the Evergreen House Foundation Scholarship.
Sarah holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Violaine Melançon, and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes School of Music, where the Bergamot Quartet was the inaugural Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet in Residence studying with the JACK Quartet.
Sarah is a founding member of the Bergamot Quartet, a string quartet fueled by a passion for exploring and advocating for the music of living composers. Bergamot has performed in venues and series including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Boulanger Initiative’s WoCo Fest, the Banff Centre, Evolution Contemporary Music Series, and Sō Percussion’s Brooklyn Bound Series. As part of its mission to empower young artists to create, perform and engage with new music, Bergamot has given workshops and lectures at universities including Princeton University, Peabody Conservatory, New York University, Towson University, University of Baltimore, Shenandoah Conservatory, and University of Texas-El Paso and served as ensemble-in-residence for the MATA Jr. and Junior Bach programs for young composers.
In addition to being part of the Bergamot family, Sarah has performed with a variety of ensembles and musicians, including Alarm Will Sound, Sō Percussion, arx duo, earspace ensemble, Ensemble Klang, S.E.M. Ensemble, Claire Chase, Dan Trueman, Dan Lippel, Courtney Orlando, and Terry Sweeney.
During her time as a student at the Peabody Conservatory, Sarah was a co-director of the Peabody String Sinfonia, a conductor-less string orchestra whose mission is to bring healing and beauty to people in Baltimore. For Sarah, Sinfonia opened up a new way of creating audience-performer relationships, with concerts repeatedly breaking down the fourth wall. Audience members shared memories the music inspired, gave encouragement and asked questions throughout the concerts, and one time even surprised the ensemble by joining in with their own percussion instruments.
An educator as well as a performer, Sarah is on staff at the Peabody Conservatory’s LAUNCHPad, where she supports students and recent alumni in their career pursuits through professional skills coaching, grant program management, and curricular support for core Professional Studies courses. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Peabody’s Professional Studies Department where she teaches the courses Building a Brand & Portfolio and Pitching Your Creative Idea, which she helped develop alongside her LAUNCHPad colleagues. Sarah also regularly coaches chamber music and presents workshops and lectures with the Bergamot Quartet in settings ranging from elementary schools to doctoral programs.
In addition to teaching music, Sarah loves the written language and works as a freelance writer for The Jazz Gallery’s blog, Jazz Speaks. During her graduate studies at Peabody, she conducted research on Peabody’s history, publishing an online exhibit and paper titled A Message of Inclusion, A History of Exclusion on the Arthur Friedheim Library’s website.
Sarah has attended festivals and academies including the Banff Centre Evolution of the String Quartet Program, New Music on the Point, Klangspuren Chamber Music Lab, Academy Quatuor Diotima, Garth Newel Emerging Artists Fellowship Program, and Yellow Barn Young Artists Program. At Peabody, Sarah received awards including the Hugh Hawkins Research Fellowship, the Artistic Excellence Award, and the Evergreen House Foundation Scholarship.
Sarah holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Violaine Melançon, and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes School of Music, where the Bergamot Quartet was the inaugural Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet in Residence studying with the JACK Quartet.
