English Bio

With a career spanning four decades, Dr. Sarah Bassingthwaighte is a composer and flutist who loves to play, teach and create music. She is a Canadian-American composer who has received accolades in each of these roles in Iceland, England, Europe, Russia, Mexico, and the United States. She is the 2024 1st place Winner of the International Saint-Saëns Competition in Composition, a 2024 Finalist for the American Prize and her compositions won the Newly Published Music Competition of the National Flute Association in both 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The London Symphony Orchestra recorded Dr. Bassingthwaighte’s Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra in 2023, and a full album is in progress for 2025. Other notable performers include members of the Scottish Royal Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Port Angeles Symphony, and the Beaverton Symphony, and soloists including Megan Lanz, Jill Felber, Claudia Anderson, and Steve Schermer. In fall of 2022, Sarah performed the US Premiere of Marquez’ Danzon #3 with guitarist Alejandra Reyes Zamarano and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra. She will be Composer-in-Residence in Sweden, at the Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC) as well as at the Uncool Residency in Switzerland.  She is the flutist for The Sound Ensemble, the Ecco Chamber Ensemble, and Windsong Classical Trio. She has served on the faculties of University of Washington, Seattle University, the Rachmaninov Institute in Tambov, Russia, the Seattle Youth Symphony, Music Center of the Northwest, and was Founding Director of Affinity Chamber Players during its 13-year lifespan. At the age of 18, she performed Jacques Ibert’s Concerto with the Seattle Symphony, and has since received numerous awards. 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.” A past president of the Seattle Flute Society, Sarah has been a featured lecturer and performer for the National Flute Association, and a presenter at College Music Society conferences.  She actively commissions new pieces for solo flute or chamber ensembles, and has been responsible for the commission, performance, and recording of more than 36 new pieces. She has a DMA in flute performance and an MM in composition from the University of Washington, an MM in theory and pedagogy from Central Washington University, and a BM Honors in performance from Indiana University, Bloomington.  Her flute teachers include Carol Wincenc, Julius Baker, Peter Lloyd, James Pellerite, Felix Skowronek, Bonnie Blanchard and Hal Ott and her composition teachers include Richard Karpen, Diane Thome, John Mickel and Margaret Brouwer.  Bassingthwaighte is Head of Composition at Seattle Pacific University. Besides playing music, Sarah loves to hike and travel, especially with her son Izzy and her dog Bibi.  They’ve gone to Kenya, Uganda, Ecuador, Peru, Norway, Italy, Russia, Iceland, and more, in a spirit of adventure and broadening perspective.