Flute & Piccolo
Sarah Benton
Acting Principal
Sponsored by Bob Kaswen
Originally from San Jose, California, Sarah Benton is a flutist and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the current 2nd flutist with the Santa Cruz Symphony under the direction of Maestro Daniel Stewart. As an educator, Sarah currently serves on the flute faculty of the Community School of Music and Arts (Mountain View, CA), and she is the conductor of the San Jose Youth Symphony's Avant and Avancé Flute Choirs. Additionally, Sarah runs a private flute studio out of her home in San Jose.
As an orchestral flutist, Sarah performs regularly with the San Francisco Academy Orchestra, Santa Cruz Symphony, the Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre, and Stockton Symphony. She also held the position of principal flute with Symphony Silicon Valley for their 2017 to 2019 seasons. Sarah has attended many orchestral festivals, including the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, Eastern Music Festival, and the National Symphony Orchestra's Summer Music Institute at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In her orchestral career, she has worked under the batons of conductors such as Teddy Abrams, Andrés Cárdenes, Paul Polivnick, Arild Remmereit, John Morris Russell, Carl Topilow, Yan Pascal Tortelier, and Osmo Vänskä. She has played principal flute in The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Carnegie Music Hall (Pittsburgh, PA), and Davies Hall (San Francisco, CA).
An avid solo flutist, Sarah was selected as a winner of the National Flute Association's Masterclass Performer Competition in 2013 (New Orleans, LA) and won first prize in the Coeur d'Alene Symphony's Young Artist Competition (Coeur d'Alene, ID). She made her concerto debut with the Coeur d'Alene Symphony in March 2014, performing Carl Reinecke's Flute Concerto in D Major. Sarah has also performed in various solo recitals throughout California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
Sarah received her Master's in Music from Carnegie Mellon University under the tutelage of Professor Alberto Almarza as his graduate teaching assistant. Additionally, she was given the opportunity to perform in lessons and masterclasses for Jeanne Baxtresser and Lorna McGhee. Sarah also holds a Bachelor's in Music from the University of Oregon, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude under the tutelage of Professor Molly Barth. Upon graduation from the University of Oregon, she received awards as an Outstanding Scholar in Music Theory and an Outstanding Performer in Woodwind Studies.
Sarah has also performed for and studied with teachers such as Bonita Boyd, Timothy Day, Bart Feller, Christina Jennings, Marya Martin, Demarre McGill, Robin McKee, Paula Robison, Les Roettges, and Jim Walker.
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MARIAN CONCUS
Sponsored by Ronald & Cindy Sekkel
Marian Concus plays piccolo and flute for Santa Cruz Symphony. She is a member of Fremont Symphony as well. Marian Concus formerly was Piccoloist for Boise Philharmonic and Central City Opera. She has held teaching positions at the Oshmann Family JCC School for the Performing Arts, Bellarmine Preparatory School, and Friends Central, Philadelphia. Her Klezmer recordings have been broadcast on WFMT Chicago and WRTI Philadelphia. Ms. Concus holds a degree in Flute Performance from New England Conservatory. She also studied for two years in Michel Debost's master class in Paris, France.
Visit her website for more information.