Sarah Gait

British Cellist Sarah Gait, born 1994, is a charismatic performer and multi-faceted musician who has appeared on some of the UK’s finest stages. Sarah’s appearances in the media include on BBC Radio 3 as all of solo cellist, composer and solo pianist, on programmes such as BBC Radio 3's 'Live in Concert' and ‘The Verb’. She has also featured several times in Classical Music Magazine and is the winner of international awards in fields including cello performance, composition and digital creation. Sarah is a Masters Graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London and performs mainly in Germany and the UK, with appearances at festivals in Austria, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland. In addition to her performance career, Sarah is experienced in teaching cello, piano, composition and music theory. Professional roles have included Chamber Music assistant and deputy tutor of Musicanship, Improvisation and Music Theory at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior Department. Sarah holds the DipABRSM in Music Performance in both piano and cello, and ABRSM Grade 8 Music Theory, all with Distinction. She held a private studio in London for a number of years, with particular interest and enthusiasm for teaching adult learners, late beginners and amateur musicians. Sarah’s teaching is now mainly based in Berlin, Germany. Sarah also undertakes bookings for recitals, functions and events, both as solo cellist and with small ensemble, usually as a cello and piano duo or with a string ensemble (string duo, trio or quartet). She additionally undertakes collaborative work as a pianist, accompanying for competitions, concerts and ABRSM exams. In addition, as of 2023 Sarah appears as Rosa de Tango, alongside Argentinian guitarist Nico Satriani, performing traditional Argentinian tango for milongas and high-end events. Please get in touch for more details. See below for a full biography, or for any enquiries please get in touch. After graduating in 2016 with a First Class BMus (Hons) degree from the Royal Northern College of Music, cellist Sarah Gait is currently pursuing a Masters of Music at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Guy Johnston, where she has formed chamber groups performing at the RAM and with external recitals around London and Manchester. Upcoming recital bookings include at St Marylebone Church and St John’s, Harrow. Sarah’s previous solo performances include venues such as Birmingham Symphony Hall (as an Awards for Young Musicians winner) and a concerto performance at RNCM with the JRNCM Symphony Orchestra, as well as the winning performance in the RNCM’s Rosamond Prize for contemporary music. Sarah has performed in masterclasses with eminent cellists such as Mario Brunello, Colin Carr, Gary Hoffmann, Gregor Horsch, Ralph Kirshbaum, Miklos Perenyi, Rohan de Saram and Sung-Won Yang. She is the grateful recipient of awards from Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Foundation, EMI Music Sound Foundation and the BBC Fame Academy. As a chamber musician, Sarah has performed at Cadogan Hall, in the RNCM Chamber Music Festival and in numerous venues across Britain and Northern Ireland. As an ex-member of both the National Youth Orchestra and the National Children's Orchestra, she has performed in many of the UK's main concert halls including Royal Festival Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and at venues abroad including La Mortella, Ischia. In 2015, Sarah was privileged to be a resident musician throughout the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano, Italy, making appearances with her string quartet, string trio and the RNCM Symphony Orchestra, including on Italian national radio. As a student of the RNCM, Sarah was fortunate to participate in coaching sessions in the European Chamber Music Academy and received the RNCM’s Weil Prize for chamber music, with a programme featuring Sarah’s own arrangement of rock band Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’. She has also performed with the RAM Manson Ensemble under Oliver Knussen, as well as being a participant of the London Sinfonietta Academy 2016 and recently performing in the UK Premiere of Philip Glass’s ‘The Juniper Tree’. Sarah is a creative performer and programmer; her recent projects from 2016 include an immersive programme intertwining live improvisation and written music for flute and cello, and a cello band event at Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery, created, devised and directed by herself – featuring music from rock to baroque, including Queen and Cole Porter alongside more familiar classical names. Both events attracted a capacity audience from diverse backgrounds and were received with much acclaim and repeat invitations. Sarah was recently invited to join Markus Stockhausen and Florian Weber in their duo recital in Manchester, where her contribution to the programme featured a live improvised solo. She has also been involved in cross-arts collaborations with dancers at The Lowry Manchester and performances with musicians from the fields of Jazz, Pop, and World music (including at Manchester’s Albert Hall and in the Spitalfields Festival). With a special passion for contemporary music, Sarah regularly works with contemporary composers, both those of established standing, such as Magnus Lindberg and Paul Patterson, and up-and-coming young composers, and she is the dedicatee of a number of contemporary works for solo cello, cello and piano, and cello and electronics. Some of her unique performances include a tour de force work for solo cello, spoken voice (of the cellist) and foot-operated electronics, at Imperial War Museum North, and her own new work for solo cello and foot-operated bass drum at the British Musuem. Sarah is actively involved in promoting the musical education of young people, having roles as both Ambassador for the BBC Proms Inspire scheme and Mentor for the Awards for Young Musicians Talent to Talent scheme. Recently this included an interview with pianist Paul Lewis for AYM, and events at Broadcasting House and the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC. As a pianist, Sarah has performed as a soloist in the RNCM Keyboard Festival, while she also performed the orchestral piano part in Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony with Vasily Petrenko and the National Youth Orchestra GB at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. In a collaboration with poet Helen Farish, Sarah performed solo piano works by Chopin in the Ledbury Poetry Festival and on BBC Radio 3’s 'In Tune'. Sarah has won many awards for her compositions, including sole senior category winner of the BBC Proms Young Composers’ Competition 2012, the NCEM Instrumental Composers’ Award 2011 and the Malcolm Arnold Composition Prize Peterloo Prize 2009. She has written for ensembles including Manchester Camerata, RLPO’s Ensemble 10/10, The Black Dyke Band, Fretwork, the Aurora Orchestra, musicians from the National Youth Orchestra, and members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, recorded at the Maida Vale Studios. A number of Sarah’s works have received multiple broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 including on 'The Early Music Show' and 'Hear and Now'.