Sarah Adams

Sarah Adams, violist, began her musical training in Cleveland, Ohio, where her first teachers were Cleveland Orchestra members Kurt Loebel and Edward Ormond and where she won the inaugural Cleveland Orchestra String Competition and the Louis Lane Scholarship. She studied at the Eastman School of Music with Martha Katz, and received her BA and MM from Kent State University, studying with Kay Slocum. Sarah attended The Juilliard School, where she earned the Professional Studies Certificate as a student of Karen Tuttle.

Ms. Adams has appeared as soloist with the Riverside and Jupiter Symphonies in Alice Tully Hall, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Caramoor, the Berkshire Bach Ensemble, the Washington Square Music Festival, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Parnassus, the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s Music Off the Walls series, and in recital with the Hong Kong Chamber Series, the Houston Chamber Music Society, the New York Viola Society, the Long Island Composer’s Alliance and at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. Sarah recently performed Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata, orchestrated by Ruth Lomon, with the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Adams is a frequent performer of chamber music in the New York area. She is violist of the Cassatt Quartet, as well as a member of the New York Chamber Ensemble and the Sherman Chamber Ensemble.

Sarah has also performed and recorded with the Smithsonian Chamber Ensemble, Parnassus, and with the Roerich and Amernet String Quartets. Other chamber music appearances have included the Haverford College Music Series, Bard Summerscape Chamber series, Friends of Mozart Chamber Series, the Windham Chamber Music Series, the Claring Chamber Series, the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, Speculum Musicae, the Si-Yo Chamber Series, and the Metropolitan Museum Chamber Series with flutist Paula Robison.

Ms. Adams is Principal Violist of the Riverside Symphony. She is a member of the American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Opera, and performs frequently with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and New York City Ballet. She was formerly Principal Violist of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Associate Principal Violist of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Adams frequently served as acting Principal Violist of the American Symphony Orchestra, and regularly appeared with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Festival appearances include Lake Tahoe Summerfest, Bard Summerscape Festival, Sherman Chamber Ensemble, Cape May Music Festival, Windham Music Festival, Seal Bay American Chamber Music Festival, Music Mountain, and Bargemusic. Sarah has been a member of the House Orchestras for Jerome Robbin’s Broadway, Kiss of Spiderwoman, Candide, Aida, Swan Lake and La Boheme. She has recorded for the Atlantic, Dorian, Koch, New World, Nimbus, Nonesuch and Virgin labels.

Ms. Adams served as viola instructor at Long Island University and Queens College, and has been a Music Associate at Columbia University since 1993, teaching viola and chamber music. She is the founding director of Viola Hour, a performance opportunity serving the Columbia viola community.

Sarah performs on a Hiroshi Iizuka viola, circa 1982.

Sarah and her husband Fred Grevin, children Quinn, Eugene, Hannah, Winona and Jean-Luc, and their dog, Buddy, reside in Westchester, N.Y