Composer, flutist, and educator Sarah is an acclaimed member of the contemporary classical music scene, a music lecturer and clinician, and an award-winning composer who has taught, performed, and had her pieces performed in England, Iceland, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and the US.  

 

Her compositions have twice been awarded the national award, the NFA Newly Published Music Award, in 2013 and 2018. This coming March, she will be Composer-in-Residence in Sweden, at the Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC).  Her compositions have been performed by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Northwest, the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, the Sound Ensemble, the Ecco Chamber Ensemble, members of the Iceland Symphony.  Current commissions include composing the first concerto written for qanun, by an American composer, which will be played by the great Maya Youssef.  Her compositions have won first place in the NFA Newly Published Music Competition in 2013, 2018, 2020, and 2021.  Currently, her concerto for flute and orchestra, House of Doors, which was premiered by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, is required repertoire for the 2020 National Flute Association convention. Her solo CDs include Songs from the Caucasus, Stalks in the Breeze and Flute Meets Machine, and she and Mark Wilson recorded Around the World and Through Time  as the ensemble Sirocco.  The British journal Pan Magazine acclaims her “hypnotic and rich sound” and goes on to say “The tone quality is full of depth and power.  Bassingthwaighte seems to have a particular talent for communicating the message of contemporary pieces,” which are “performed with polish and virtuosity.”  She is the author of the full-length book Flute Meets Machine, and has been awarded the Stan Chu Essay award.  Dr. Bassingthwaighte teaches composition, orchestration, and flute at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington.