SARA SU JONES -- MUSICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Click here for information on Sara Su's upcoming concerts.
- Scroll to the bottom of this page to hear (and see) samples of Sara Su's violin performances.
"The apex of Thursday night's concert was CBASO concertmaster Sara Su Jones' deeply engaging performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1. Ms. Jones is a violinist of enviable gifts, and her account of this repertory standard was at once invigorating, lyrical and dramatic. Who knew so much theater existed in a broad stroke of the bow? From her rich, burnished tone in the Adagio to the flexibility of the festive Finale, Ms. Jones pulled her audience in and kept them there."
-- Bryant Manning, contributing classical-music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Classical Review, and Entertainment Weekly (writing in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, 12/14/09)
Sara Su Jones is an award-winning violinist who has performed extensively as a soloist throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She is an active recitalist and chamber musician, performing frequently throughout the Chicago area in venues such as St. James Cathedral and the PianoForte Foundation; her June 2010 solo recital at Roosevelt University's Ganz Hall was recommended by the Chicago Tribune's classical-music critic, John von Rhein. During the 2010-11 season, Sara Su made her Washington, D.C. debut.
At age 17, she received an A.R.C.M. diploma in violin performance from the Royal College of Music in London, England. That year, Sara Su was named the “Most Promising Young Musician of the Year” at the Bristol Proms Festival in Bristol, England, and her winning performance was broadcast on BBC Radio.
As an undergraduate at Harvard, she served for three years as assistant concertmaster of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO), Harvard’s symphony orchestra. Since 2006, Sara Su has served as concertmaster of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra (
CBASO), Chicago's all-lawyer orchestra. As featured soloist with the CBASO, she performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in March 2007, Vivaldi Concerto for Two Violins in A minor with former Lyric Opera concertmaster Henry Criz in October 2007, and the Bruch Violin Concerto in November 2009 at St. James Cathedral. (See the review of her Bruch Concerto performance above.) She will perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with the CBASO in the fall of 2012.
A top prizewinner in various music competitions in both the U.S. and England, including that of the Harvard Musical Association, Sara Su has performed in Symphony Hall (Boston) and Orchestra Hall (Chicago) and as a soloist in major international concert halls, such as the Grieg Hall (Bergen, Norway -- home of the Bergen Philharmonic), Vienna International Centre (Vienna, Austria), and venues in England, Germany, Japan, and Canada, among others. Sara Su was a Violin Fellow at the Waterloo Festival School of Music in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1993, where she played in the Waterloo Festival Orchestra under Gerard Schwarz and performed in the Young Artist Chamber Music Series. Earlier, as a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, she performed on numerous occasions as concertmaster and soloist with the Phillips Academy Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. Sara Su, who started playing the violin at age 2, has studied with Mark Zinger (a former student and colleague of David Oistrakh) since she was 7. Her former teachers include Roman Totenberg and Almita Vamos.
Sara Su is also an accomplished singer. As a soprano in the professional
Cathedral Choir and Chamber Choir of S
t. James Cathedral in downtown Chicago, she has performed live on 98.7WFMT. The Cathedral Choir’s CD
(“Arise, Shine!” -- MSR Classics MS-1376), released in November 2010 on a national label, was
selected by 98.7WFMT as one of the top
12 holiday recordings of 2010. From ages 9 to 12, Sara Su was a member of the Children’s Chorus of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She sang in
Carmen and
Otello (both with Placido Domingo);
Die Frau ohne Schatten;
La Boheme; and
La Gioconda. (Click
here to view the full-page
Chicago Tribune article on Sara Su and her role in
Carmen.) Sara Su also performed as a supernumerary in the Chicago Opera Theater’s production of
The Pearl Fishers. At Phillips Academy, she was selected to join the Cantata Choir, in which she sang for four years (including concert tours in Italy and the U.S.). At Westonbirt School in England, Sara Su sang in the Chapel Choir and Senior Choir and passed the Grade 8 (highest grade) Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music examination in singing, in her first year of private voice lessons.
Sara Su also has a strong background in dance, having started ballet lessons at age 3. When she was 5, she danced in a Danish Royal Ballet production at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. She continued advanced ballet studies throughout her years at Andover.
LISTENING ROOM (live concert recordings)
Chamber-music recital at St James Cathedral, Chicago, IL, September 17, 2009
YouTube links:
With Neil Posner, piano:
Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in G Major, op. 30, no. 3, second movement (recommended -- see video above)
Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in G Major, op. 30, no. 3, first movement
With Albert Pan, cello, and Jennifer Zlotow, piano:
You may also search for "Sara Su Jones" in the YouTube search box to locate all videos from the 9/17/09 chamber-music concert at St. James.
Solo recital (with Tatyana Stepanova, piano) -- excerpts
June 10, 2009, Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL
Vivaldi Sonata in D minor, Op. 2, No. 3,
first movement (Preludio: Allegro) (2:46)
Vivaldi Sonata in D minor, Op. 2, No. 3,
third movement (Adagio) (1:29)
Vivaldi Concerto for Two Violins in A minor, op. 3, no. 8
- Sara Su Jones, violin I
- Henry Criz (former Lyric Opera of Chicago concertmaster), violin II
with the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra (David Katz, conductor) at St James Cathedral, Chicago, October 25, 2007
BBC Radio's broadcast of Sara Su's performance of a Mozart sonata at St Georges Brandon Hill, Bristol, England, where as a 17-year-old she was named the "Most Promising Young Musician of the Year" at the Bristol Proms Festival: