A classically trained pianist praised for her technical mastery (Journal of the IAWM), Dr. Sarah Masterson was inspired by Philippa Schuyler’s neglected life story to embark on a multi-year project to research and reconstruct Schuyler’s unique piano music. Thus far, that journey has produced two albums and a book, Snapshots of Forgotten Adventures: Rediscovering the Piano Music of Philippa Schuyler, exploring Schuyler’s music in more depth. A “massive undertaking” (The American Prize) reflecting an “intimate knowledge of Schuyler’s musical intention” (The Kapralova Society Journal), her debut recording of Schuyler’s monumental Seven Pillars of Wisdom won Third Prize in the 2023 Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music. Her “deeply revealing and insightful” (Atlanta Audio Club) album Travelogue: Philippa Schuyler’s Music for Piano, funded in part by a generous Arts Project Support Grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, includes the only commercially available recordings of the rest of Schuyler’s piano works.
Dr. Masterson currently serves as Associate Professor of Piano and Music Theory at Newberry College in South Carolina, where she founded the college’s first piano competition and manages the department’s social media. She is an active member of the College Music Society, International Alliance for Women in Music, and the Recording Academy, and she is a board member of the SC Music Teachers Association.
Dr. Masterson completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Connecticut in 2011, with a major concentration of piano performance and a minor area of emphasis in music theory. Past instructors include Dr. Neal Larrabee, Prof. Claude Cymerman, and Phyllis Niednagel.
Dr. Sarah Masterson, Pianist & Educator 