Sarah Gibson

Sarah Gibson was a Los Angeles-based composer and pianist whose works draw on her breadth of experience as a collaborative performer. Her compositions reflect her deep interest in the creative process across various artistic mediums—especially from the female perspective.

She received a Copland House Residency and commissions from the League of American Orchestras and the Toulmin Foundation, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Summer Music Festival & School, Grossman Ensemble, and Seattle Symphony, among others.

Gibson’s music has been described as “expansive” (LA Times) and has been performed by the BBC & Los Angeles Philharmonics, Atlanta, Seattle, and New Jersey Symphonies, Jennifer Koh, Departure Duo, HOCKET, and at various venues across the United States and Europe. As a pianist, she performed with many of these ensembles as well as with Wild Up, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and the Atlanta Symphony, where she debuted under the direction of Donald Runnicles in 2005.

Sarah co-founded the new music piano duo, HOCKET, which was lauded as "brilliant" by the LA Times' Mark Swed, and was a core artist for the Los Angeles Series, Piano Spheres. HOCKET held residencies at Avaloch Farm Music Institute and received grants from the Earle Brown Music Foundation and the Presser Foundation. HOCKET performed at festivals such as the MATA Festival, the L.A. Philharmonic's Noon to Midnight, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, and the Other Minds Festival.

Sarah received degrees in Piano and Composition from Indiana University and the University of Southern California. She was Assistant Director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Composer Fellowship Program and Assistant Professor in Composition/Theory at the California State University, Long Beach Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, where she also directed the New Music Ensemble.