WYSO String Ensemble

Spring 2024

Meets Sunday evening beginning February 4, 2024 from 6-7 p.m. at Seton Hill University’s Performing Arts Center
Members are accepted on a rolling basis. Contact Ramona Coppage [email protected]

WYSO String Ensemble is a training group for elementary school string players. Participants learn how to play in a group setting and how to follow a conductor. No audition is necessary. Most members are taking private lessons and can play material equivalent to that found in Suzuki books I and II.

>WYSO Ensemble Application Form (required for ALL new students)

Conducted by Sarah Ferrell

Sarah Ferrell (Née Morris) has been working as a professional cellist from a young age and performs in a variety of genres ranging from professional symphony orchestras to HBO TV music events. Sarah regularly performs with the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra Quartet, Erie Philharmonic, and Laurel Valley String Quartet. She has often been called upon to be acting principal or assistant principal of the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, and is a proud alum of the Westmoreland Youth Symphony where her love of orchestra originated.

Sarah is a professor at Seton Hill University and is in high demand as a teacher of private cello students through the SHU Community Music Program, and the Westmoreland Symphony Academy of Music. She is the conductor of the Westmoreland Symphony’s String Ensemble, and cello coach of Westmoreland Youth Symphony Orchestra and Seton Hill University Honors Orchestra. Sarah recently created and produced a cello masterclass with famed cellist Cicely Parnas in conjunction with Seton Hill University and the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra.

Mrs. Ferrell received her B.M. in Cello Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, studying under former Baltimore Symphony Principal Cellist, Mihaly Virizlay. She further received her M.M. in Cello Performance from Boston University, studying under Muir String Quartet Cellist, Michael Reynolds. Prior to her University instruction, Mrs. Ferrell studied privately with Pittsburgh Symphony members Mikhail Istomin and Anne Martindale Williams, and Northwestern University Professor Hans Jørgen Jensen.