Sarah McKoin
Dr. Sarah McKoin serves as Director of Bands, Professor of Music, and Chair of the Conducting and Ensembles Area at Texas Tech University, where she leads the graduate conducting program and oversees a vibrant and comprehensive band curriculum. Under her direction, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble has been featured at prestigious events including The Midwest Clinic, Texas Music Educators Association, North American Saxophone Alliance, College Music Society, and CBDNA conferences.
Her ensembles are featured on commercial recordings with Naxos, Albany, and Mark Records, including the world premiere recording of Chen Yi's Suite for Cello and Wind Ensemble, a project praised widely for both its artistic merit and execution. One reviewer noted, "The playing of the Texas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble is strikingly good, even in the complexities Chen poses." Additionally, she premiered the recorded version of Narong Prangcharoen's Chakra on his debut commercial release, Phenomenon, a collection featuring works for piano, strings, orchestra, and winds.
A passionate advocate for contemporary music and education, Dr. McKoin has collaborated with some of today's most significant composers and artists, including Viet Cuong, Michael Daugherty, Michael Colgrass, John Mackey, Steven Stucky, Nicole Piunno, Will Healy, David Biedenbender, Steven Bryant, Lindsey Kesselman, Joseph Lulloff, and the Aruna Saxophone Quartet, among others. Recent recordings of Cuong's Deciduous and Second Nature, performed with the Aruna Saxophone Quartet, can be heard on the composer's website as reference performances.
Highly sought as a guest conductor and clinician, Dr. McKoin's work has taken her across the United States and internationally to Australia, Canada, China, Thailand, Taiwan, and Israel, where she served as producer for the world premiere recording of Roberto Sierra's Fantasia Correliana with the Castellani-Andriaccio Guitar Duo and the Israeli Chamber Orchestra. She regularly teaches at the Interlochen Arts Academy and recently joined the faculty for Music in the Marche, a summer opera training program in Mondavio, Italy, where she is launching a new chamber music initiative for instrumentalists.
Prior to her appointment at Texas Tech, Dr. McKoin held positions at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Fredonia, and the Brevard Music Center. She is a Yamaha Master Educator, a past President of the Southwest Division of the College Band Directors National Association, and former President of the Big 12 Band Directors Association. Her professional affiliations include the American Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu, and Pi Kappa Lambda. She also serves as faculty sponsor for the service fraternities Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.