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 gloriously human 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 the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, 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 Peabody Conservatory, Towson University, University of Baltimore, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 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 including Alarm Will Sound, Sō Percussion, earspace ensemble, Chamber Encounters, and Ensemble Klang and collaborated with musicians including Claire Chase, Courtney Orlando, Jason Treuting, 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 the Baltimore community who are in challenging situations or in places where they cannot easily gain access to live music. For Sarah, Sinfonia opened up a new way of experiencing 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 - all of this the simple beauty of new relationships being formed.
Sarah holds a private violin studio, coaches chamber music (with an undying passion, as chamber music is her first and forever love), and regularly presents workshops and lectures with the Bergamot Quartet in settings ranging from elementary schools to postgraduate programs. In addition to teaching music, Sarah loves the written language and worked as both a writing tutor and a graduate assistant in the Musicology and Professional Studies Departments at the Peabody Conservatory.
Sarah has attended festivals and academies including the Banff Centre Evolution of the String Quartet Program, The Next Festival of the Emerging Artist, 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. She is currently pursuing a Professional Studies Diploma at the Mannes School of Music with the Bergamot Quartet, who is 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 the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, 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 Peabody Conservatory, Towson University, University of Baltimore, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 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 including Alarm Will Sound, Sō Percussion, earspace ensemble, Chamber Encounters, and Ensemble Klang and collaborated with musicians including Claire Chase, Courtney Orlando, Jason Treuting, 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 the Baltimore community who are in challenging situations or in places where they cannot easily gain access to live music. For Sarah, Sinfonia opened up a new way of experiencing 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 - all of this the simple beauty of new relationships being formed.
Sarah holds a private violin studio, coaches chamber music (with an undying passion, as chamber music is her first and forever love), and regularly presents workshops and lectures with the Bergamot Quartet in settings ranging from elementary schools to postgraduate programs. In addition to teaching music, Sarah loves the written language and worked as both a writing tutor and a graduate assistant in the Musicology and Professional Studies Departments at the Peabody Conservatory.
Sarah has attended festivals and academies including the Banff Centre Evolution of the String Quartet Program, The Next Festival of the Emerging Artist, 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. She is currently pursuing a Professional Studies Diploma at the Mannes School of Music with the Bergamot Quartet, who is the inaugural Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet in Residence studying with the JACK Quartet.
