It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of our friend and colleague Dr. Sarah Gibson. Sarah passed away on Sunday, July 14, 2024. Dr. Gibson joined the BCCM as a faculty member in Theory and Composition in Fall 2022. In her brief time here, Sarah was an incredible teacher, mentor, and colleague. Her love of music was infectious and inspired our students to push the boundaries of sound and composition.
Dr. Gibson taught by example and was a world-renowned composer and performer. Her music was performed by the BBC, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Atlanta, Seattle, and New Jersey Symphonies, and other groups and venues across the United States and the world. The Bob Cole Conservatory family expresses our deepest condolences and love to Sarah’s husband, Aaron Fullerton, and their newborn son Benjamin, along with her entire family.
Sarah’s legacy of music composing and performing will live forever in the hearts and sounds of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. For more information about Dr. Gibson’s music please visit sarahgibson-music.com
Dr. Sarah Gibson was a Los Angeles-based composer and pianist whose works draw on her breadth of experience as a collaborative performer with a deep interest in the creative process across various artistic mediums. She has received honors and recognition such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Sound Investment composer, American Composers Orchestra Underwood New Music Readings, a Copland House Residency, Victor Herbert ASCAP award, and a Chamber Music America Grant. She has received commissions from the League of American Orchestras and the Toulmin Foundation, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Arco Collaborative, Aspen Summer Music Festival and School, Grossman Ensemble, and Seattle Symphony, among others.
Gibson’s music has been described as "expansive" (LA Times) and performed by the BBC and 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 is co-founder of the new music piano duo, HOCKET, which has been lauded as "brilliant" by the LA Times’ Mark Swed, and is 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. Alongside Artistic Director Andrew Norman, she is the Lead-Teaching Artist for the esteemed Los Angeles Philharmonic Composer Fellowship Program. Sarah is Assistant Professor in Composition/Theory at the California State University, Long Beach Bob Cole Conservatory of Music.
