Violoncello
2020
Sarah McMahon is a passionate chamber musician. As a founder member of the Callino String Quartet, Sarah spent many years studying with members of the Amadeus Quartet, Rainer Schmidt, Erich Höbarth and Gyorgy Kurtàg. The Quartet has toured widely, commissioning numerous compositions, and collaborating with diverse artists such as Ailish Tynan, Edgar Meyer, Arvo Pärt, Barry Guy, John Abercrombie and the Kronos Quartet. Their recent recording for Coro of The Seven Last Words by Haydn has met with critical acclaim. Their recent collaboration with Canadian filmmaker Kaveh Nabatian, performing a live score of this work, was premiered at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam in 2019 and will be touring internationally at festivals in Montreal, Buenos Aires, Bilbao, Kerala, Edinburgh and Moscow.
Aside from the Quartet, Sarah enjoys a busy career playing principal cello with the Academy of Ancient Music, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Marsyas and Camerata Kilkenny. She has often appeared as soloist with these ensembles, collaborating with Monica Huggett, Peter Whelan and Richard Egarr amongst others. She is also regularly invited to play as guest principal cello with Florilegium, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Arcangelo, The English Concert, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen, Aurora Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Sarah is a dedicated teacher and is on the faculty of the Berwick Academy, teaching historical cello and chamber music at the Oregon Bach Festival. Sarah gratefully acknowledges the support of the Arts Council of Ireland through their Capital Awards Scheme.