Cellist Sarah Wilson made her Carnegie Hall debut at age 17 as principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra under the direction of Lukas Foss. Since then, Wilson has performed throughout the United States as well as Canada, Mexico, Holland, Italy, and Switzerland.
With a special interest in sharing her talents with others, Wilson is a dedicated private teacher and a member of the Suzuki Association of America. She has participated in music education in Colorado Springs in varying capacities with the Colorado Springs Youth Orchestra, Colorado Springs Conservatory, and occasional collaborations with the music faculties at UCCS and Colorado College.
A firm believer in the importance of diversifying the musical canon, Wilson has dedicated herself to performing lesser known works from the classical repertoire as well as works from the 20th and 21st centuries. To this end she has performed cello works of Leos Janacek, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, James MacMillan, Samuel Ades, and Elliott Carter. In "Two Bridges," a duo with violinist Martha Muehlheissen, Wilson performed works by Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly, and Kaija Saariaho. Wilson premiered “Gemini” for cello and piano, a piece which was written for and dedicated to her by Jacob Gotlib. As principal cellist of the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, she collaborated with the Grammy winning new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird.
Wilson feels passionately that the arts are a dignified career field and works tirelessly to promote living wage and favorable working conditions for her fellow musicians in the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). She is a member and officer of AFM Local 154 as well as a frequent delegate to the Regional Orchestra Players Association conferences.
Ms. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance from the renowned Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
She performs on an Italian cello from 1757 that is attributed to the school of Calvarola.