Violinist Sarah Son, age 16, is a junior at Davis Senior High School and a Pre-College student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the instruction of Elbert Tsai. Sarah currently plays in the first violin section of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and was selected to be a violinist for Carnegie Hall’s 2023 National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America.
Sarah made her soloist debut in 2022, performing Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5 with the Sacramento Youth Symphony Premier Orchestra after winning the orchestra’s concerto competition. Sarah was a featured soloist again in February 2023 at the Solano Symphony Salute to Youth Concert as the first prize winner of the Solano Symphony’s Young Artists Competition. She is also the winner of the 2023 DHS Concerto Competition and performed the first movement of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major with the DHS Symphony Orchestra at Wennberg Orchestra Festival at the Mondavi Center.
Sarah won first place awards at the 2022 Auburn Symphony Young Artist Competition, 2020 CalASTA Sacramento Solo Competition Junior Division, 2020 & 2016 MTAC VOCE regional competition, 2018 CAPMT Go for the Gold Music Competition, and 2016 Crescendo International Music Competition, and second place awards at the 2023 Burlingame Music Club String Competition, 2022 ENKOR Int’l Music Competition and 2019 Classical Masters Music Competition. She also received Honorable Mention at the 2023 KAMSA Music Competition and 2022 Burlingame Music Club Competition. In appreciation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music, Sarah has been invited to perform unaccompanied solo violin pieces at the Junior Bach Festival in Berkeley every March since 2021.
This year, Sarah was chosen to be concertmaster of 2023 CASMEC All-State High School Symphony Orchestra. In the past seasons, Sarah also served as concertmaster of the 2021 CODA High School Honor Orchestra, 2021 KAMSA Youth Orchestra, and 2020-2021 Sacramento Youth Symphony Premier Orchestra just to name a few.
An avid chamber musician, Sarah has been playing in various piano trios, string quartets, and piano quintets within the DHS Symphony Orchestra, SFCM Pre-College and the VITA Academy’s Great Composers Series Rising Stars Program. She also plays solo violin and chamber music for local seniors and hospital patients through the organization Lifting Spirits with Music. Sarah is currently the Regional Director of the Back to Bach Project in the Davis, CA region, which aims to educate young children about classical music through presentations, performances, and educational videos.
In past summers, Sarah has attended the 2022 Music@Menlo Koret Young Performers Program, 2021 Boston University Tanglewood Institute Violin Workshop, and 2021 Orford Musique Academy in the studio of Lucie Robert. In July 2023, she will take part in NYO-USA’s eight-city tour of North America under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis with renowned soloists Gil Shaham and Hilary Hahn.
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, I. Allegro ma non troppo
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Duration: 19 minutes
