MY BACKGROUND

Cellist Dr. Sarah Bish made her solo debut in 2008, performing with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic after winning first prize in the Virtuoso-in-Progress Concerto Competition. She earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) at Rutgers University, Masters in Music in Cello Performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), a minor in European History from Case Western Reserve University. Her principal teachers include Jonathan Spitz, Astrid Schween, Merry Peckham, and Madeleine Golz, with additional instruction from Steven Doane, Timothy Eddy, and Alisa Weilerstein. She is the head of the cello department at the Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, New Jersey, and on the faculty at Silver Music in New York City and the Bridgemusik Festival. She is also on the cello and chamber music faculties of the Luzerne Music Center, an intensive and widely respected summer music program.  

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Sarah has made appearances at festivals such as the June in Buffalo Performance Institute, the Chautauqua Institute, and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. She is a Young Artist Fellow Alumni at the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, where she worked closely with Itzhak and Toby Perlman and performed in chamber music concerts with Itzhak Perlman. As an avid private cello teacher in the New York City and New Jersey area, Sarah completed her Suzuki Pedagogy certification with Dr. Melissa Kraut and is a registered teacher in the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In her Masters degree program, she was the cello studio Teaching Assistant to Astrid Schween at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she participated in the Graduate Quartet Program and performed as soloist with the University's Symphony Orchestra. Passionate about pedagogy, Sarah focused on historical pedagogy for her doctoral project: a dissertation and lecture-recital on the French cellist and pedagogue, Jean-Baptiste Bréval, a member of the French cello school of the late-eighteenth century. 

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In her free time, Sarah enjoys baking, running, and watching nature documentaries. Sarah lives in Bergenfield, New Jersey with her husband Aditya and cat Cookie.