SARAH ELIZABETH GIBSON

            Dubbed “a serious talent to watch” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, nineteen-year-old pianist-composer Sarah Elizabeth Gibson debuted with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra  in April, 2005 performing the Mozart Triple Piano Concerto alongside Donald Runnicles and Robert Henry. Gibson served as principal keyboardist for the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra 2001 to 2004 and keyboardist of the Centennial High School Orchestra from 2000-2004. With two commissioned compositions premiering at Atlanta’s Symphony Hall, Gibson’s work was described by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as “creating moments of striking elegance and panache, particularly in her orchestral writing.”

            As the youngest composer of Neil A Kjos Publishing Company, Gibson’s Remembrance, c. 2001, was published in 2004 for worldwide distribution.  Gibson’s works have been performed on Public Radio International’s From the Top, Atlanta Symphony Hall, Eastman School of Music, Georgia State University, Brevard Music Center, four MENC National Conventions, and venues in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Paris.  National recognition includes winner of the 2002 National Federation of Music Club Junior Composer’s Contest, the 2004 NFMC Whitehurst National Piano Solo Award, the 1999, 2002, 2003, and 2004 Reflections National Composition Award, the 2003 and 2004 NFAA and 2003 and 2004 Davidson National Merit Award and Honorable Mention in Piano and Composition, the 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005 New York Art Ensemble Emerging Composer Award, 2003 Indiana University’s High School Composition Contest Scholarship, and the 2005 Victor Herbert/ASCAP Young Composers Award.

            A double major in piano performance and composition and a four-year scholarship recipient at Indiana University, Gibson studies piano with Evelyne Brancart and Jean-Louis Haguenauer, and composition with Sven-David Sandstrom. Summer music studies include Furman University Keyboard Institute, Brevard, Eastman Music Horizons, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the European American Musical Alliance.