GENERAL MANAGEMENT
Described as “a consummate musician” (Naples Daily News) with “a divine sound... exquisitely sculpted” (The Prague Post), Canadian violist Sarah McElravy leads an exceptional and multifaceted career as a chamber musician, soloist and pedagogue.
The 22/23 season saw her perform the Walton Viola Concerto with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under Jonathan Bloxham and the Sofia Philharmonic under Daniel Geiss. Alongside her duo partner and husband, the violinist and conductor Julian Rachlin, she performed a series of double concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the Valles Symphony Orchestra at Palau de la Musica Catalana (Barcelona). She also made her debut at the Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, performing Britten’s “Lachrymae” with the Radom Chamber Orchestra and conductor Jurek Dybal.
As a soloist, Ms. McElravy has appeared with major orchestras across the globe. Highlights of recent seasons include the Helsinki Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Warsaw Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Wiener Kammerorchester, Moscow Philharmonic, Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck and Naples Philharmonic among many others.
She performed the UK premiere of the Penderecki Double Concerto for violin and viola with Julian Rachlin and the Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted by Alexander Joel, and Strauss’s Don Quixote with Boris Andrianov and the…
Described as “a consummate musician” (Naples Daily News) with “a divine sound... exquisitely sculpted” (The Prague Post), Canadian violist Sarah McElravy leads an exceptional and multifaceted career as a chamber musician, soloist and pedagogue.
The 22/23 season saw her perform the Walton Viola Concerto with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under Jonathan Bloxham and the Sofia Philharmonic under Daniel Geiss. Alongside her duo partner and husband, the violinist and conductor Julian Rachlin, she performed a series of double concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the Valles Symphony Orchestra at Palau de la Musica Catalana (Barcelona). She also made her debut at the Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, performing Britten’s “Lachrymae” with the Radom Chamber Orchestra and conductor Jurek Dybal.
As a soloist, Ms. McElravy has appeared with major orchestras across the globe. Highlights of recent seasons include the Helsinki Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Warsaw Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Wiener Kammerorchester, Moscow Philharmonic, Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck and Naples Philharmonic among many others.
She performed the UK premiere of the Penderecki Double Concerto for violin and viola with Julian Rachlin and the Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted by Alexander Joel, and Strauss’s Don Quixote with Boris Andrianov and the Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Dmitri Jurowski. She has also performed with the Moscow Soloists conducted by Yuri Bashmet, as well as the Slovenian Philharmonic, Nice Philharmonic and Moscow Virtuosi. Ms. McElravy made her Japan debut with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the “La Folle Journée” Festival.
Chamber music highlights of the 22/23 season included a string quartet performance of Beethoven’s Große Fuge Op. 130 at the Glocke (Bremen) with violinists Julian Rachlin and Boris Brovtsyn and cellist Eckart Runge. Sarah McElravy is also a regular guest at the Herbstgold Festival in Eisenstadt, most recently performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations (in the Sitkovetsky-transcription for string trio) as well as a performance of “The Music Critic” with legendary actor John Malkovich.
She has performed chamber music in such prestigious venues as the Vienna Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Suntory Hall and Schloss Elmau; taken part in the Prague Spring Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Caramoor Festival, Sion Festival and the Kronberg Festival; and with internationally recognised artists such as Vilde Frang, Janine Jansen, Denis Kozhukhin, Itamar Golan, Andreas Ottensamer, Mischa Maisky, Nicolas Altstaedt, Boris Andrianov and Daniel Müller-Schott.
A founding member of the award-winning Linden String Quartet (2008-2014), hailed as “polished, radiant and incisive” by The Strad Magazine, she toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. The ensemble served as Fellowship Quartet-in-residence at Yale University, Apprentice Quartet at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and gave teaching residencies at the University of Iowa, University of Idaho, Caramoor Festival and Detroit Chamber Music Society amongst others. The quartet gave frequent masterclasses, lectures and outreach performances. The Linden Quartet received the Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the 2009 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, 2009 Coleman National Chamber Ensemble Competition and the 2010 Hugo Kauder Competition, the ProQuartet Prize at the 9th Borciani String Quartet Competition, and a prestigious New York Concert Artists Guild management contract.
In 2014, Ms. McElravy founded the Chamber Music Society México, an organization dedicated to presenting world-class chamber music in México City. As the Artistic Director, she brought leading North American artists to perform and provide educational programs for talented young Mexican musicians.
Sarah McElravy plays on a 1791 Ferdinando Gagliano violin and a 1785 Lorenzo Storioni viola on loan to her courtesy of the Dkfm. Angelika Prokopp Privatstiftung in Vienna.
An impassioned viola solo opens the work, with a very much improvised feel, which McElravy played with great expression. Immediately one was aware this was the beginning of a rather special evening.
