Sarah Plum began her performing career by winning the gold medal at the International Stulberg Competition in 1983.  Since then she has carved out a distinctive role as a serious interpreter of a wide range of repertoire both old and new. 

 

Soon after receiving her DMA at SUNY Stony Brook, Plum moved to Europe where she was a leading player with world-class orchestras such as the West German Radio Orchestra (WDR) and the London Philharmonic and a performer in new music ensembles such as Ensemble Moderne, Musik Fabrik and Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam. Plum had the good fortune to take part in historic concerts of new music at the Luzerne Festival, the Festival Automne (Paris), and Ars Musica (Brussels) among others.

 

Plum has been touring with an evolving solo program of new music since she celebrated the release of her 2011 solo CD Absconditus (BGR 235) with a critically acclaimed performance at the Ankunft:Neue Musik Festival at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. These concerts have brought her to festivals and venues worldwide such as Quiet Cue Intermedia (Berlin), the Center for New Music San Francisco, Spectrum New York, Unruly Music at the Marcus Center (Milwaukee), Stanford University’s CCRMA (center for computer research in music and acoustics) and the Cube at Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity among others.

 

In 2015 Plum released two CDs on the Bluegriffin label. Bela Bartok Works For Violin Volume 1 (BGR 373), is the first of a projected two CD set with her longtime duo partner Timothy Lovelace. Music for a New Century (BGR 371) features performances of two 21st century concertos: Yaël, a violin concerto from composer Sidney Corbett in a live recording from its American premiere and the Violin Concerto of Christopher Adler, which was commissioned by Plum. Whole Note Magazine wrote about this CD: "I can’t think of a better flag bearer than Sarah Plum who is quite brilliant here, or better performances or interpretations. This is an important addition to the contemporary violin concerto discography."

 

Recent concerts include appearances with 5th House Ensemble at Kalamazoo’s Festival of Sacred Music, the Harris Center in Folsom, California and the King Auditorium in Denver as well as their premiere of Daron Hagen’s Opera Orson Rehearsed, at the Studebaker Theatre in Chicago. In November she was a featured guest at the 3rd Practice Festival in Richmond Virginia where she performed music of Eric Moe, Joo Won Park and Ben Broening.

 

In the last 7 years alone Plum has commissioned more than 15 works. Currently, Mari Takano is writing a two violin concerto for Plum and noted Japanese soloist Michi Suguira and Berlin based composer Laurie Schwartz is creating a music theater piece for Plum inspired by the New York Dada figure, the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.

 

Plum has a CD in production which will contain world premiere recordings of new music for violin alone and with electronics, most of which was written for her by Eric Lyon, Jeff Herriot, Charles Nichols (a piece that was premiered at 3rd practice in 2014) Ben Broening, Mari Takano, Eric Moe and Mari Kimura. The projected release for this is Spring/Summer of 2019 on the Bluegriffin label.