Sarah Plum is an internationally active violinist, violist, and educator whose career brings together distinguished performance credentials and more than three decades of teaching at the university, conservatory, pre-college, and festival levels. She began her professional performing career after winning First Prize at the International Stulberg Competition and has since developed a reputation for combining rigorous technical training with deep musical insight. 

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Sarah holds degrees from The Juilliard School (BM, MM), where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Szymon Goldberg, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from SUNY Stony Brook, where she studied with Joyce Robbins. Her teaching reflects this lineage while remaining flexible, contemporary, and responsive to the needs of today’s young musicians. 

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With over 35 years of teaching experience, Sarah has guided students of all ages toward meaningful artistic and professional success. Her students have won scholarships to top degree programs and summer festivals, earned prizes in competitions including MTNA, ASTA, Fischoff, and the Midwest Young Artists Walgreens Competition, and gained admission to youth orchestras, conservatories, and advanced training programs. Many have gone on to professional careers as orchestral musicians, chamber performers, professors, and music educators. 

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Sarah has held faculty positions at institutions including Drake University (where she was a tenured Associate Professor of Violin and Viola), the University of Oklahoma, SUNY Stony Brook, and the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. In 2018, she left her tenured position at Drake University to relocate to Chicago and focus on pre-college and advanced student teaching. She was immediately appointed to the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago, where she maintains a thriving studio and teaches on the Academy faculty, coaching chamber music and teaching viola to violinists. Her 2023 Academy chamber ensemble was a semifinalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. 

 

In addition to her work in Chicago, Sarah is a Chamber Music Instructor at Michigan State University and teaches advanced students at her home studio in Okemos, Michigan. She has taught at summer festivals in the United States and Europe, including Zodiac Music Academy (France), InterHarmony International Music Festival (Germany), the University of Oklahoma Summer String Academy, and Bay View Music Festival. She has presented masterclasses throughout North America and internationally, both in person and online. 

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Sarah’s teaching specialties include audition preparation and orchestral excerpts (for MYA, CYSO, All-State and other youth orchestras), competition preparation, and comprehensive technical development, with a particular emphasis on scales, arpeggios, thirds, and octaves. She is especially known for her work mentoring advanced students entering the profession, guiding violinists transitioning to viola, and helping players refresh and rebuild technique through focused, problem-solving work on vibrato, shifting, bow strokes, and right-hand technique. 

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She is currently developing a series of small-group classes and curricular initiatives, including a three-level Three-Octave Scales program based on an original method she has developed. Her forthcoming publication, Three-Octave Scales for Violin (expected Summer 2026), presents a systematic approach to scale study integrating technical sequencing, harmonic awareness, and tonal flexibility. Additional offerings focus on Solo Bach interpretation and ensemble playing through the Bach Double Concerto, with students rotating through all parts to develop score literacy and ensemble skills. 

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Students interested in private study, trial lessons, specialty classes, or upcoming teaching projects are encouraged to contact Sarah directly. She welcomes inquiries from students studying in Evanston, at the Music Institute of Chicago, or in Michigan, and looks forward to working with musicians who are curious, committed, and eager to grow.