Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Noted in the New York Times as part of "a new wave of female conductors in their late 20's through early 40's", Sarah Hicks's versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place in "the next generation of up-and-coming American conductors". Since October of 2009 she has been Principal Conductor of Orchestra Live with the Minnesota Orchestra; she has been instrumental in creating new Pops productions while also heading the innovative classical series, "Inside the Classics". Throughout her career she has collaborated with diverse artists, from Jamie Laredo and Hilary Hahn to Josh Groban and Smokey Robinson; during the summer of 2011 she was on a two-month tour with Sting as conductor of the final leg of his Symphonicities Tour.

Ms. Hicks has guest conducted extensively both in the States and abroad, including the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic and Prime Philharmonic (Seoul, Korea). She led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in July 4th concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in 2012, 2013 and 2015. 2016-17 highlights include debuts with the Brisbane Symphony, Lisbon Symphony, Calgary Symphony and Dallas Symphony Orchestras as well as return engagements in San Diego, San Francisco and Cincinnati.

Ms. Hicks's past affiliations include positions with the North Carolina Symphony, Richmond Symphony and Florida Philharmonic. She was on faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music from 2000 to 2005 and continues her affiliation as Staff Conductor. Her opera appearances have included Verdi's Aïda with the East Slovak State Opera Theater, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites and Handel's Alcina with the Curtis Opera Studio and a semi-staged production of Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel with the Minnesota Orchestra 2009.

A committed proponent of the performance of new music, Ms. Hicks conceived and completed a Microcommission Project, the first of its kind, with the Minnesota Orchestra in which hundreds of people made microdonations to fund a major new work by composer Judd Greenstein. Her recording project with the Vermont Symphony, "Triple Doubles", featuring music of Richard Danielpour and David Ludwig with Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson, soloists was recently released on the Bridge Label. She has also conducted performances with Composers in the Shape of a Pear (Cleveland) and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.

Sarah Hicks was born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in Honolulu, HI. Trained on both the piano and the viola, she was a prizewinning pianist by her early teens. She received her BA magna cum laude from Harvard University in composition. She holds an Artists' Degree in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with the late renowned pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller. In her spare time, Ms. Hicks enjoys running, yoga, her Papillon, cooking (and eating) with her husband, traveling and sketching.

Audiences and critics alike have praised The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh’s programming, saying, “EXCEPTIONAL and MEMORABLE… I’m still talking about it,” “One of the finest music events I have ever attended,” and “the Mendelssohn never ceases to amaze me… This city should be proud of its choir” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). 

Critically acclaimed as one of the finest choruses in the country, MCP is the “voice of the greater Pittsburgh region” — whether premiering a choral work composed by Stewart Copeland of The Police at a rock venue, or performing Mozart with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Unlike other professional arts organizations, MCP is proudly comprised of mostly amateur singers with professional-caliber talent, whose day jobs vary from postal clerk to physician to casino card dealer. MCP singers give generously of their talent, passion, and commitment to share the magic of live music with the widest possible audience, within Heinz Hall and throughout the community. 

For more than a century, MCP has proudly partnered with the PSO as its “chorus of choice,” bringing the joys of symphonic choral music to tens of thousands of people each year. MCP has performed under the batons of world-renowned conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Claudio Abbado, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, André Previn, Sir Neville Marriner, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Helmuth Rilling, Ingo Metzmacher, Richard Hickox, Zdenek Mácal, and Manfred Honeck.

MCP embraces its long legacy of performances, recordings, and commissions that reimagine choral music for today’s audiences and bring bold, unique programming to the Pittsburgh region, such as the recent world premieres of Satan’s Fall by the Police’s Stewart Copeland and The Times They Are A-Changin’ by composer and conductor Steve Hackman. Under the leadership of its new Robert Page Music Director Daniel Singer, MCP looks forward to continuing its tradition of excellence while seeking innovative ways to encourage broader community participation in MCP as singers and as members of the audience. 

MCP fosters the next generation of choral singers and audience members through its educational program, the Junior Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh (JMCP). Founded in 1986, JMCP is the region’s premier high school choral training and performance program. Annually, JMCP attracts singers from more than a dozen school districts, providing youth with a challenging musical environment in which to develop their skills and encouraging them to be lifelong participants in the arts.

Declared “brilliant” by the Washington Post, violinist Sandy Cameron is one of the most strikingly unique artists of her generation. Since her debut at the age of 12 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Sandy has performed extensively as a soloist throughout the world. Here are some personal highlights of Sandy’s work:

Places: The White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, when the sun would barely set, was one of the first of a number of unique performance experiences Ms. Cameron has had. Another standout was her first time to Australia, performing at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts. Performing in an Olympic stadium in South Korea and bringing world premiere performances to Tokyo have also been very special. Additionally, Ms. Cameron has enjoyed playing in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Royal Albert Hall in London, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany.

Orchestras: The Seattle Symphony and the Kirov Orchestra were the first two great orchestras Ms. Cameron had the privilege of performing with. Since then, collaborations have included the San Diego Symphony, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, and the National Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Projects: The most rewarding experience of Ms. Cameron’s career is Danny Elfman's Violin Concerto, "Eleven Eleven". Danny wrote this concerto for Ms. Cameron, and she had the great pleasure and honor of presenting the world premiere with conductor John Mauceri at the Prague Proms in June 2017. It was received with great success, and they had the luxury of continuing that success in Hamburg at the Elbphilharmonie. She first began working with Mr. Elfman while performing with the Los Angeles based Cirque du Soleil show, "IRIS", which ran from 2011-2013. Since Cirque, she’s had a number of exciting experiences which include performing Tan Dun's Martial Arts Trilogy, touring globally with renowned trumpeter-composer Chris Botti, as a featured soloist in Austin Wintory's score to the video game Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, and a number of featured solo appearances in concert productions such as Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton, Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas Live in Concert, Disney's The Little Mermaid Live in Concert, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Live in Concert, all at the Hollywood Bowl.

The outstanding violin played by Ms. Cameron, crafted by Pietro Guarnerius of Venice, c. 1735, is on extended loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society ® of Chicago.

William Mueller is in his third year singing with the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus. William, 12, is a seventh-grade student at the Grove City Christian Academy in Grove City, PA. He has studied piano for six years and the violin for four years and performed last spring with the Westminster College Orchestra. In the fall of 2017, William appeared as Winthrop in the Grove City College’s production of The Music Man and performed in the cast of Les Misérables with the Pittsburgh CLO’s Summer Camp this past summer. William last sang with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as a member of the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus in the June 2018 performances of Berlioz’s Te Deum.