Sarah Oates Concertmaster, Orchestra leading & Teacher
Sarah Oates enjoys a varied career combining chamber music, orchestral
leading and teaching. As the associate concertmaster of the Philharmonia
Orchestra in London she has performed regularly in the great concert halls and
around the world. She is a sought-after guest concertmaster with other world
class orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC
Philharmonic, the Royal Opera House of Brussels, and the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra. Sarah has recently been appointed first concertmaster of the Dutch
National Ballet Orchestra in Amsterdam.
Sarah's education began in her country of birth, South Africa, with Louis van der
Watt. She went on to study with Yossi Zivoni in at the Purcell School in London,
then at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and with Pinchas
Zukerman at the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
Sarah maintains a busy chamber music schedule. As a member of the Devich
Piano Trio she recorded four CD's with Challenge Records to international critical
acclaim. Recent recordings include a CD with Warner Classics, with works by
Chausson, with her string quartet, the Philharmonia Chamber Players. She is a
founding member of the Phoenix Festival, an annual chamber music festival in
Brussels, with an ensemble of international musicians based in Belgium, Brussels
Muzique. She is a member of the Ubuntu Ensemble, a group of South African
musicians currently based in the UK and Europe, who come together to perform
classical repertoire as well as showcasing contemporary South African
composers.
Sarah is a violin professor at the London Performing Academy of Music.
