About

Chinese-American violinist Sarah Ying Ma is a 2024 Performance Today Young Artist in Residence with host Fred Childs, and the recent 2nd Prizewinner of the 2023 Dallas International Violin Competition: "Her impassioned account was gripping from start to finish. She commanded that rarest of effects, pianissimos at the threshold of audibility that still radiated intensity" (The Dallas Morning News). In 2024, Sarah was named a semifinalist in both the solo and ensemble categories of the 2024 Concert Artists Guild Louis & Susan Meisel Competition, and won the competition with the Poiesis Quartet, receiving management through Concert Artists Guild. 

Sarah has soloed with numerous orchestras, including the Dallas Chamber Symphony, Island Symphony Orchestra, North Shore Symphony Orchestra, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, Manhattan School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 212, Accademia D’Archi Arrigoni (Italy), Indiana University’s Informatics Philharmonic, Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Chamber Players Orchestra, among many others. She was previously accepted as the youngest semi-finalist in the prestigious 2017 and 2019 Cooper International Violin Competition, the 2017 Blount Slawson Young Artists Competition, as well as the 2016 Il Piccolo Violino Magico in Italy, where she received the special prize for “Best Virtuoso Piece”. 

An extraordinary chamber musician, Sarah has attended Kneisel Hall and the Heifetz International Music Institute, and was the Dorothy Richard Starling fellow at Aspen Music Festival as a student of Robert Lipsett, Donald Weilerstein, and Paul Kantor. As an educator, Sarah was a 2024 Teaching Artist Fellow at the Classical Music Institute in San Antonio, TX. 

Most notably, Sarah is a founding member of the Poiesis Quartet, the Grand Prize, Gold Medal, and Lift Every Voice winners of the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, 2024 winners of the Concert Artists Guild auditions, and Gold Medal and BIPOC prize winners at the 2023 St Paul String Quartet Competition's Senior Division.  As lovers of new music, Poiesis is currently working on numerous commissions, and their recent projects include the release of their debut album featuring world premiere recordings of works by Rick Stout and Clint Needham, singer Nancy Maultsby, and multiple Grammy-winning producer Elaine Martone, which was signed onto the label Bright Shiny Things. The Poiesis Quartet is currently in residence at the University of Cincinnati's Graduate Quartet Program studying with the Ariel Quartet. 

After transferring from undergraduate and Pre-College studies at The Juilliard School with Donald Weilerstein, Li Lin, & Masao Kawasaki, Sarah holds a B.M. in Violin Performance from Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Sibbi Bernhardsson.

As a 2023 Oberlin College Research Fellow and 2023 Gilman Scholar of the U.S. Department of State, Sarah also received two minors from Oberlin College in Comparative American Studies and Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies. Previously, Sarah was closely mentored by Aaron Rosand, Elizabeth Faidley, Li Lin, and Liu Xinlan. She is also grateful to have worked with Almita Vamos, Robert Levin, Ray Chen, Sarah Chang, Stefan Jackiw, and Richard Lin, among others.

Sarah is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music where she studies with Kristin Lee and the Ariel Quartet. Sarah performs on a fine 1900 violin by Leandro Bisiach and bow by Eugène Sartory.