Elite Educational Coaching

Hailed as a “violinist of enviable gifts” by a Chicago Sun-Times music critic, Sara Su Jones has given recitals at the Harvard Club of New York as well as in Reykjavik, Iceland; Washington, DC; and Andover, Massachusetts, together with her musical partner of 16+ years, the Ukrainian-American pianist Tatyana Stepanova. Sara Su and Tatyana have also performed throughout the Chicago area, including in sold-out concerts at the historic Glessner House, Cliff Dwellers Club, and Newberry Library. Additional appearances include the Noonday Concert Series at Fourth Presbyterian Church, the Nineteenth Century Club, Lyric Opera Chapters, the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, and the Union League Club (for the Musicians Club of Women). The duo has appeared multiple times on “Live from WFMT,” the flagship recital-and-conversation series of Chicago’s classical-music radio station. Their eclectic, creative programming often highlights striking but little-known works, including those composed by women like Marguerite Canal, Dorothy Howell, Rebecca Clarke, Mel Bonis, Germaine Tailleferre, Florence Price, and Gwyneth Walker. Sara Su enjoys sharing intriguing insights into the music in her remarks to audience members.

 

Sara Su was the 2022 winner of the American Prize (instrumental soloist) and a top prizewinner in competitions in both the US and UK, including that of the Harvard Musical Association. Sara Su, whose solo recitals have been recommended by the Chicago Tribune’s former music critic John von Rhein, has been a featured soloist on WFMT, WBEZ, and BBC Radio, and performed at Harvard and Pepperdine Universities.

 

Sara Su has also given numerous recitals abroad, often with her partner, longtime WFMT host and pianist Dennis Moore, including in London (Temple Church, Inner Parliament Chamber), Lisbon (Aula Magna), and Reykjavík. Her Icelandic concerts include a recital on the main stage at Harpa, the home of the Iceland Symphony, for an audience of over 500, as well as recitals for ambassadors and cultural leaders, including former Icelandic president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, at the Residence of the US Ambassador to Iceland, with additional recitals at the historic Culture House and at the US Embassy in Reykjavík. 

 

At age 17, Sara Su received an ARCM certificate in violin performance from the Royal College of Music in London, England.  That year, she 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. Sara Su served for three years as assistant concertmaster of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO), Harvard’s symphony orchestra, and from 2006 to 2019 served as concertmaster of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra (CBASO), Chicago's orchestra of lawyers, with which she performed multiple times as a concerto soloist, including at Orchestra Hall (Symphony Center) in Chicago. Sara Su holds an AB in Economics, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and a JD, cum laude, both from Harvard.
 
Sara Su was a Violin Fellow at the Waterloo Festival School of Music in Princeton, NJ, 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, studied primarily with the late Mark Zinger (a former student and colleague of David Oistrakh); additional teachers include the late Roman Totenberg and Almita Vamos, and she currently studies with Gerardo Ribeiro. Sara Su performs on a 2017 violin made for her by the Icelandic luthier Hans Johannsson.

Sara Su is also an accomplished singer. As a soprano in the Cathedral Choir and Chamber Choir of St. James Cathedral in downtown Chicago from 2009 to 2013, she performed live on 98.7 WFMT. The Cathedral Choir’s CD (“Arise, Shine!”—MSR Classics MS-1376), released on a national label in November 2010, was selected by 98.7 WFMT as one of the top 12 holiday recordings of 2010, and the Cathedral Choir's March 2012 performance of the Brahms Requiem was broadcast by 98.7 WFMT. The American Record Guide has called the St. James Cathedral Choir "a paragon among American church choirs."

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. (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, with concert tours throughout 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.

 

View a list of Sara Su's upcoming performances.