Sarah Lawrence – Viola & Piano Tutor

Sarah is focusing on promoting the viola as a solo and orchestral instrument at Music West Castlebar, to help raise the profile of the instrument in the West of Ireland.

Sarah has been teaching viola, violin and piano for the last 25 years in the UK and Ireland. Lessons include work on all aspects of musicianship including technique, sight reading and theory of music with a focus on performance skills.

Students can take graded exams through the Royal Irish Academy of Music or the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Several of Sarah’s students have received High Achiever’s Awards from the Irish Academy having attained exam results that placed them in the top 4% in the country.

Sarah has also mentored and performed with string quartets. This has included playing at weddings and special events, from both the Classical and Popular repertoire. Mentoring work has focused on independent playing, tone production, rhythm and counting and performance directions

Sarah also works with the Mayo Youth Orchestra as a viola tutor, a role she really enjoys. As a teenager Sarah rehearsed and performed at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall as a viola player with the Merseyside Youth Orchestra. One of the orchestras’ tours was to Israel where the soloist was the cellist, Lynn Harrell. The orchestra also played at the Royal Albert Hall accompanying Julian Lloyd Webber in a performance of Elgars Cello Concerto.

Sarah studied violin with Jennifer Hewitt-Jones and viola with Vera Kantrovitch and Bob Braga. Jennifer and Bob were both members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sarah Lawrence is the Musical Director of BellaCapella, the female choir based in Music West, Castlebar. The choir sings a wide range of music both sacred and secular including 16th century Madrigals, The Beetles and recently written compositions from around the world.

With a focus on singing in the community, BellaCapella have taken part in fund raising concerts and sang a morning service of worship recorded for RTE in Dublin. BellaCapella took 2nd place in a competition at Castlebar Choral Competition in the New Choir category.

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