SARAH GRAF
Performing on modern and baroque cello and viola da gamba, Sarah Graf is an avid chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. Since moving to Colorado in 2007, Sarah has performed extensively in concert series across the region. Sarah specializes in baroque performance and has played in the Freiburg Baroque Academie and Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. In 2019 Sarah created Rocky Mountain Baroque, an early music ensemble. She has recently played in the Seicento Baroque Ensemble and with the Colorado Bach Ensemble and has played principal cello in the High Country Sinfonia, Aspen Choral Society orchestra and Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra. Sarah received her undergraduate degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Alan Harris and Steven Doane, and attended music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and National Orchestral Institute.
As Executive Director of the nonprofit Roaring Fork Music Society and program/co-music director of the Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra, Sarah is dedicated to sharing the experience of serious musical study and performance with the next generation of young musicians.
Ms. Graf has organized and performed solo and chamber music recitals throughout the Roaring Fork Valley and the Western Slope of Colorado. These include performances in the Music at First Presbyterian Church and Western Slope Concert Series in Grand Junction, CO the Music in the West End concert series in Aspen, CO. In 2013, she brought the performers of the Roaring Fork Chamber Players to Steve’s Guitars for the venue’s inaugural classical music show.
During her time at Eastman School of Music, Ms. Graf was active in both contemporary and early music performance, working with both the Ossia New Music Ensemble and Collegium Musicum. Ms. Graf’s cello studies include work with such acclaimed teachers as Alan Harris, Steven Doane, and Troy Stuart, and baroque specialists Paul O'dette, Christel Thielmann, and Kristian Bezuidenhout. She has also played in masterclasses and workshops for Ronald Leonard, Guido Larisch, and Bobby McFerrin.
Ms. Graf has taught cello lessons for more than fifteen years in both her home town of Frederick, Maryland and in western Colorado. She maintains a studio of private cello students and coaches the cellists of the Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra. Ms. Graf’s Suzuki teacher training includes Levels 1 and 2 with teacher Pamela Davenport at the Ithaca Suzuki Institute in Ithaca, NY, Level 3 with Ann Grabe at the Oregon Suzuki Institute in 2015, Level 4 with Beth Goldstein-McKee, Levels 5 and 6 with Shuyi Scott, Level 7 and revisiting book 1 with Avi Friedlander and Level 8 with Laura Shaw, and Level 9-10 with David Evenchick at the Suzuki Institute in Montreal, Canada.