Described by the New York Times as a conductor with “unquestionable strength and authority”, Sarah Ioannides is Music Director of two American orchestras, the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Recognized for captivating audiences with graceful and powerful conducting combined with compelling interpretations she assumed both positions in 2005. Ioannides’ has received outstanding press for her innovative programming and creative artistic leadership with world premieres, vibrant multimedia productions and stunning performances. The League of American Orchestras recognizes her as one of the nation’s top emerging conductors.

In 2008, Ioannides’ debut CD was released with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and violinist, Lara St. John. It was reviewed by the Gramophone Magazine as “directed with panache”, and features John Corigliano’s Red Violin Suite and two world premiers: the Matthew Hindson Violin Concerto and the Martin Kennedy / St. John arrangement of Franz Liszt’s Totentanz.

Guest conducting engagements span five continents and include such orchestras as the Flemish Radio Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Swedish Wind Ensemble in Stockholm, Orquesta Sinfonica Municipal de Caracas, Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea, the Naumburg Concert Series in New York City, Annapolis Symphony and Indiana University’s Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared in special engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New World Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra. Guest engagements during the 2008 – 2009 season include the Orchestra Nationale de Lyon, the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, the Cyprus State Orchestra, and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra,.

Prior to her current appointments, Sarah Ioannides served as Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2002-2004. Characterized by the Cincinnati Post as “elegant to watch, active and keenly expressive,” Ioannides was awarded the Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair during her tenure with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, one of only two awards presented by the Bruno Walter Foundation in the United States during the 2003-2004 season.

From 1999 to 2003, Ioannides served as Assistant Conductor to composer Tan Dun touring Japan, China, Hong Kong, Russia, France, Germany, Sweden, the USA and the UK. As such, she conducted the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and the Oregon Bach Festival. In 2000 in Stuttgart, Sarah Ioannides was the choir director for the RIAS Kammerchor and production coordinator for the world premiere performance of Tan Dun’s Water Passion after St. Matthew. In February 2005 at the request of Tan Dun, she conducted his Water Passion in Perth, Australia as the first conductor to perform this work other than the composer.

Currently, Ioannides is the recipient of a professional development grant from the League of American Orchestras, a position in which she will interact with several esteemed conductors in the United States and Europe.

Born in Canberra, Australia, to a Scottish mother and Cypriot father, Sarah Ioannides grew up in England. She studied violin, viola, piano and French horn, earning a Master of Arts in Music at Oxford University where she was an instrumental scholar. Formerly a member of the National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Chamber Orchestra, she played professionally as a violinist. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1996, Ms. Ioannides entered the Curtis Institute of Music as a conductor. At Curtis she was awarded the Presser Foundation Scholarship for one month’s study in St. Petersburg, Russia. She subsequently received a Masters of Music in Conducting at the Juilliard School, was awarded the Bruno Walter Scholarship, and served as assistant conductor to Otto Werner-Mueller. In 2001, she received the JoAnne Falletta Award for the most promising female conductor.

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