Sarah Senn is a recent graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied under Dr. Melissa Kraut. Sarah obtained her Undergraduate Performance degree and Master’s Performance degree at CIM, as well as a minor in Suzuki Pedagogy and full Suzuki teaching certification. Originally from Long Island, NY, Sarah began studying at the age of four at a local Suzuki school and later trained in the Precollege division at the Manhattan School of Music with Deborah Park.
As a soloist, Sarah has won first prize in the 2017 Tennessee Cello Workshop Competition and in the 2019 “Getting to Carnegie” competition, where she not only had the opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall but also won a trip to the US Virgin Islands to give a concert tour. Sarah has also won prizes in the New York Music Competition, the Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competition, the Cleveland Cello Society Concerto Competition, and the Island Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition, among others. Sarah has been selected as a semifinalist in the 2018 and 2019 Ann and Charles Eisemann International Young Artist’s Competition and the 2019 Mondavi Young Artists Competition, and selected as a finalist in the 2019 Emerging Soloist Competition and the 2020 Mika Hasler Competition. Sarah made her orchestral solo debut in 2018 with the South Shore Symphony in New York, playing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto.
Sarah has had the pleasure of collaborating with world-renowned musicians in chamber music settings, such as Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Joe Burgstaller, Frank Morelli, Zuill Bailey, Shannon Lee, Chaconne Klaverenga, and Sara Daneshpour.
Sarah joined the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in 2021, and is also a contract member with the Akron Symphony Orchestra as the 3rd chair cello in Akron, Ohio, since 2018. In the past, Sarah has held positions with numerous other orchestras, including Principal Cellist in the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra and Assistant Principal Cellist in the South Shore Symphony. Sarah substitutes with many regional and national orchestras, such as the New World Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, and the Cleveland Playhouse Square Theatre orchestra, among others.
This past summer, Sarah released her debut album called “Hymns of Grace”, a project that she worked on with her friends during the pandemic lockdown. Sarah loves to write and play original arrangements and especially loves to play in cello quartet arrangements. When she is not at her cello, Sarah loves to hike, swim, and play ultimate Frisbee.