Cellist Sarah Rommel is a top prizewinner of the 2014 George Enescu International Cello Competition. She has been the recipient of several awards and grants including a Williamson Foundation Grant, Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Grant, and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists Award, which led to a subsequent appearance on NPR’s “From the Top”. Ms. Rommel will perform in recital with pianist Amy Yang at the 2020 Lyra Music Festival.
Smith College | Sage Hall
Tickets $25
Festival Pass $75 (Entrance to all 2020 Lyra Music Festival Events)
Program: TBA
SARAH ROMMEL, CELLO
Thurs. July 9, 2020
Smith College, Sage Hall
1:30pm Cello Masterclass
7:30pm Concert w/ pianist Amy Yang
Cellist Sarah Rommel is a top prizewinner of the 2014 George Enescu International Cello Competition. She has been the recipient of several awards and grants including a Williamson Foundation Grant, Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Grant, and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists Award, which led to a subsequent appearance on NPR’s “From the Top”.
Sarah has given solo recitals at Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars Showcase and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in addition to performances in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, France, Italy, England, and Romania. She has actively participated in classes at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, Academie Musicale de Villecroze, and IMS Prussia Cove where she has worked closely with distinguished professors such as David Geringas, Gary Hoffman, Frans Helmerson, and Paul Katz.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Sarah was a founding member of the cello quintet SAKURA and has appeared with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble and SHUFFLE Concert. She has also recently toured with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Sarah has been invited to perform at festivals such as the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, NM, Music in May Festival, Santa Cruz Chamber Players, Chamber Music Palisades, Chamber Music Sedona, as well as Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars Series, Chamber Music New Zealand, Yellow Barn, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute and Marlboro Music Festival. Sarah has collaborated with composers John Adams, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Higdon, Steve Mackey, and Kaija Saariaho, pianist Jonathan Biss and Gil Kalish, violinists Lucy Chapman, Pamela Frank, Joseph Lin, Scott St. John, and Don Weilerstein, violists Atar Arad, Kim Kashkashian and Nobuko Imai, and cellists Peter Wiley and Ralph Kirshbaum.
Sarah began her musical studies on the piano at age nine and was later introduced to the cello at age twelve. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she pursued a Bachelor of Music studying with Peter Wiley. Previous teachers include Efe Baltacigil and Hans Jørgen Jensen. She recently received her Master’s Degree from the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles studying under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum. Sarah is currently based in New York City and Seattle, WA.
A “jaw-dropping pianist who steals the show…with effortless finesse” (Washington Post), Amy Yang balances an active career as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. Collaborating with leading musicians, Ms. Yang toured with Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Tito Muñoz and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and premiered music by Michael Hersch at Cal Performances, Ojai Music Festival and Aldeburgh Festival. Additional collaborations include performances with Richard Goode, Anne-Marie McDermott, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Miriam Fried, Roberto Díaz, Kim Kashkashian, Joseph Silverstein, members of Guarneri String Quartet, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Dover Quartet, Aizuri String Quartet, Jasper String Quartet and A Far Cry. Ms. Yang’s debut on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Series followed solo engagements with the Houston Symphony, Tuscaloosa Symphony, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony and Orquesta Juvenil Universitaria Eduardo Mata at UNAM. She has performed under the batons of Adam Flatt, John Giordano, Thomas Hong, Mariusz Smolij and others.
Ms. Yang has premiered music by Caroline Shaw, Avner Dorman, Michael Hersch, Ezra Laderman, Paul Wianko and Hua Yang. Festival appearances include Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Prussia Cove, Verbier Academy, Bravo! Vail, Chamber Music Northwest, Chelsea Music Festival, Caramoor, Olympic Music Festival, among others.
An active recording artist, her discography includes a solo album (MSR Classics), and albums with violinist Itamar Zorman (BIS Records), violinist Tessa Lark (First Hand Records) and clarinetist José Franch-Ballester (iTinerant Records). Upcoming releases include music for solo piano by Ezra Laderman (Albany Records) and a recording with violinist Danbi Um.
Ms. Yang is a member of the chamber music faculty at Curtis Institute of Music, program director and piano faculty member of Curtis Summerfest’s Young Artist Summer Program and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and Haverford College. Winner of the 2018 Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia prize and the Kosciuszko National Chopin Piano Competition, she is an alumna of Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School and Yale School of Music, where she received the Parisot Award for Outstanding Pianist and the Alumni Association Prize. She enjoys making line drawings and tracing the mysteries of neuroscience. [ www.amyjyang.com ]