Sara Sant'Ambrogio (born 1962) is an American

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

best known as a member of the

Eroica Trio The Eroica Trio is an American piano trio consisting of Erika Nickrenz, piano; Sara Parkins, violin; and Sara Sant'Ambrogio, cello. The trio take their name from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. They have toured and recorded widely, and released ...

. She was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and began her studies with her father, John Sant'Ambrogio, principal cellist with the

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest professional symphony o ...

. She was invited to study with

David Soyer David Soyer (February 24, 1923February 25, 2010) was an American cellist. He was born in Philadelphia and began playing the piano at the age of nine. At 11, he started the cello. One of his first teachers was Diran Alexanian. Later on he stud ...

at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

at the age of 16. Three years later,

Leonard Rose Leonard Joseph Rose (July 27, 1918 – November 16, 1984) was an American cellist and pedagogue. Biography Rose was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were Jewish immigrants, his father from Bragin, Belarus, and his mother from Kyiv, ...

invited her to study at the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named afte ...

. She immediately won the Juilliard

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

Concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

competition and was featured in a

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

concert. Her career began when she won the bronze medal at the 1986 International

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

Violoncello Competition in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and was invited to play at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

. This recital aired nationally on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. Since then she has appeared as a soloist with the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Boston Pops The Boston Pops is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symphony Orc ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Moscow State Philharmonic, Century Orchestra Osaka,

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

orchestras, in addition to touring and recording 9 CDs with the Eroica Trio on EMI and 4 solo CDs for Sebastian Records. She has performed at many festivals including Aspen, Marlboro, Ravinia, Great Mountain, Mostly Mozart and Hollywood Bowl and was featured in 7 sold out concerts of the

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Cello Suites The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). They are some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello. Bach most likely composed them during the p ...

with the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

. She has performed with singers STING, Rufus Wainwright and Angela McCluskey and has recorded with rock group VAST. Tracks from her solo CD Dreaming were featured on the soundtracks for the documentary "Jones Beach Boys", the HBO documentary "A Matter of Taste," and "Kiss The Water." She won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for Bernstein Arias and Barcarolles on Koch Records. The Eroica Trio's first CD won NPR's Best Debut Recording and their second CD was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards. The Eroica Trio won the Naumburg Competition in 1991. She has premiered works by several contemporary composers, including recording the

Bruce Wolosoff Bruce Wolosoff (born March 27, 1955) is an American classical composer, pianist, and educator.
retrieved May 23, 2017 He lives ...

Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Michael Bacon Cello Concerto with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the double concerto ''Romeo and Juliet'' by

Daron Hagen Daron Aric Hagen ( ; born November 4, 1961) is an American composer, writer, and filmmaker. Biography Early life Daron Hagen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in New Berlin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Hagen was the youngest of ...

, with flutist

Jeffrey Khaner Jeffrey Khaner (born December 22, 1958) is the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also served as principal flutist with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Khaner teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music, The ...

and the

Albany Symphony Orchestra The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York. Founded in 1930 as the People's Orchestra of Albany by Italian-born conductor John Carabella, the Albany Symphony is the oldest professional symphony ...

. She performed and recorded additional works by Bruce Wolosoff for The Montage Music Society's album "Creating Music Inspired by Visual Art," and has a forthcoming album featuring two Wolosoff sonatas for

Avie Records AVIE Records is a UK-based independent classical music recording company founded in 2002 by Simon Foster and Melanne Mueller who devised a unique business model based on artist ownership. Foster and Mueller continue to run the company together with ...

. She has premiered new triple concertos by American composers Kevin Kaska and Jay Greenberg. Triple Concertos with bandoneon by Emilio Kauderer and Daniel Binelli Trios by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Kevin Puts and Zhou Tian.

References

External links

Sara Sant'Ambrogio
official Web site
Eroica Trio
official Web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Sant'Ambrogio, Sara Living people Juilliard School alumni American women classical cellists American classical cellists 1962 births 21st-century American women