Piano Spheres

A Los Angeles-based organization that supports and encourages the composition and performance of major new works for the piano.

for Sarah

Sarah Gibson was a brilliant pianist, composer and educator, and one of the brightest lights in our community. Along with pianist Thomas Kotcheff, she was half of the piano duo HOCKET, who joined Piano Spheres as a Core Artist in 2019, but she has been part of the PS family for over a decade. To say she will be missed does not encapsulate the magnitude of this tragic loss, but she will live on in our hearts and through her music forever. We will remember her warm smile, contagious laughter, joyful presence and one-of-a-kind musical voice. Our hearts are broken, and we send our love and condolences to her family, friends, colleagues, students, and all those who grieve her passing.  Piano Spheres will dedicate our upcoming season to Sarah, and we are working on other ways to remember her memory and impact. 

Sarah Gibson was a Los Angeles based composer and pianist whose works drew on her breadth of experience as a collaborative performer. Her compositions reflect her deep interest in the creative process across various artistic mediums—especially from the female perspective. After living with cancer for several months, Sarah passed away peacefully on Sunday July 14 surrounded by her family and loved ones.

She received a Copland House Residency and commissions from the League of American Orchestras and the Toulmin Foundation, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Summer Music Festival & School, Grossman Ensemble, and Seattle Symphony, among others.

Gibson’s music has been described as “expansive” (LA Times) and has been performed by the BBC & Los Angeles Philharmonics, Atlanta, Seattle, and New Jersey Symphonies, Jennifer Koh, Departure Duo, HOCKET, and at various venues across the United States and in Europe. As a pianist, Sarah has performed with many of these ensembles as well as with Wild Up, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and the Atlanta Symphony where she debuted under the direction of Donald Runnicles in 2005.​

Sarah was co-founder of the new music piano duo, HOCKET with pianist/composer Thomas Kotcheff, which has been lauded as “brilliant” by the LA Times’ Mark Swed, and was a core artist for the inimitable Los Angeles Series, Piano Spheres. HOCKET has held residencies at Avaloch Farm Music Institute and received grants from the Earle Brown Music Foundation and the Presser Foundation. HOCKET has performed at such festivals as the MATA Festival, the L.A. Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, and the Other Minds Festival.

Sarah received degrees in Piano and Composition from Indiana University and the University of Southern California. She was Assistant Director for the esteemed Los Angeles Philharmonic Composer Fellowship Program and Assistant Professor in Composition/Theory at the California State University, Long Beach Bob Cole Conservatory of Music where she also directed the New Music Ensemble.

Below are comments from some of Sarah’s friends and colleagues…

“My heart is shattered. I was in disbelief and so devastated to learn of Sarah Gibson’s passing–the world has lost such a beautiful, glowing human being and artist. I had the great honor of composing two works for the incredible piano duo HOCKET that Sarah had with Thomas Kotcheff. I loved every interaction with Sarah–her kindness, wit, ebullience, and overwhelming talent as a composer and pianist–I was looking forward to many more years of collaboration and am crushed that she is gone. Our community is mourning her loss, and I send my deepest condolences to her family, to Thomas and all her close collaborators, and to her fans. May her light, talent, and dedication continue to live in us all and remind us that we cannot take any moment of breath for granted.”

Jen Shyu

composer, vocalist, multiinstrumentalist
Everyone at Bang on a Can has been devastated by the tragic news about Sarah Gibson. Sarah was such a kind and open spirit, and a wonderful pianist and composer. She had been a fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival in Massachusetts in 2015 and we remembered her yesterday at this year’s festival, when Richard An and Karl Larson performed her piece ‘our eyes once watered.’ Richard and Karl both spoke about Sarah to the audience – it was an emotional performance of an exquisitely beautiful piece, and a very moving event. We are going to miss her.

David Lang

composer
PianoSpheres and the world of music has lost a brilliant and multi-talented pianist/composer who was recognized as an artist with extraordinary gifts. I was terribly saddened and devastated when I heard that Sarah had passed away because I kept hoping and praying that she would recover and it was especially painful to all of us because she was young and excited about her work as a composer, concert artist and teacher. I had the pleasure of having a few conversations with her and will always remember the joy and high energy she conveyed whenever she talked about her work and future plans.
Sarah was truly a remarkable woman of grace and passion….I was deeply honored to know her and I earnestly hope that her work will live on through performances of her music. May she rest in power.

Althea Waites

Piano Spheres Stein Resident Artist for 2024/25
I am absolutely devastated by the news about Sarah and send my sincere condolences to everyone at Piano Spheres. Sarah has been, and continues to be, a huge inspiration and role model for me, ever since I first knew her when I was a freshman at USC. I feel incredibly grateful that I was able to work with her this past year. Her positivity, warmth, and generosity both as a teacher and artist will live on in her students and colleagues. I am utterly heartbroken for everyone.

Katelyn Vahalla

Piano Spheres Emerging Artist
When I studied composition as an undergrad, Sarah was a doctoral student years above me. Despite the age and experience gap, she would make time for anyone. She met outside of class to help me with edits on my first ever orchestral piece, and she supported me when I was having doubts I should even compose at all. Her smile and warm energy truly lit up every room. Sarah’s music is so cool, but her approachability and lightness of being was the coolest, and made a lasting impression on everyone she met. May her memory be a blessing to us all.

Micah O’Konis

This is a great loss for the entire music community. Sarah was a brilliant composer, pianist and teacher, whose presence will be felt by many whose lives she touched. Her contagious smile and positive spirit was uplifting and encouraging for her students and colleagues. She gave life to many new works by premiering them as a part of her piano duo HOCKET, and left for us her beautiful music!

Vera Ivanova

Composer
A brilliant pianist, Sarah often performed in the HEAR NOW Festival and for several years before she began working in Santa Barbara, she was an Associate Artistic Director of the festival. More than once the brightness of her Spirit and her encouragements allowed us to overcome some difficult moments and make the right decisions. It is as if —more than most of us—what was inside Sarah found its way out into the world to enhance and make luminous her interactions with us, her friends and colleagues. Still in a state of shock and disbelief,  Melba and I are deeply saddened by the tremendous loss. Our hearts go out to her family.

Hugh Levick

Composer, Director Hear Now Festival
I had the privilege of watching Sarah’s work with the LA Phil Young composer fellows. She was a kind soul who brought out the best in every student and encouraged them to find their own compositional style and voice. She was an expert educator and an amazing model for the young people who had the honor of working with her. Over the years, we loved going to see premieres of her work and performances with Hocket. Sarah was an exceptional artist on so many levels and in every domain that she worked in. She was an inspiration to everyone who got to experience her work. She was a bright light who not only created and brought beauty into the world, but she nurtured it in others. We are absolutely heartbroken at this news and simultaneously so grateful to have known her and her work. She will be sorely missed.

Heidi Vass

CFP Mom
I am in shock of the news that we received this week. This such a painful, deep, and tragic loss. I am truly, so sorry for your loss, of such a wonderful person, musician, friend, artist, and creative partner. May Sarah’s light, joy, and beauty ripple and echo through all future PianoSpheres events. 
Please receive my warmest embrace.

In sympathy and sorrow,

Rafael Liebich

Pianist, Director, Neighborhood Music School
Unfathomable. Such a lively, spirited and talented person — taken way too soon. I’m so sorry.

Lisa Moore

pianist
I can’t believe what I saw.  Sarah was both a very gifted composer and a powerhouse on the keyboard. She was way too young, my heart is broken. Please send my deep condolences to Sarah’s family.

With deep sympathy,

Joan Huang-Kraft

composer

Upcoming concerts with for Sarah

for Sarah

On July 14, 2024 the Piano Spheres family lost one of our own. Sarah Gibson was …

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