Sarah Hicks

Sarah Hatsuko Hicks (born 1970 or 1971 (age 53–54))^[1][2] is a Japanese-born American orchestral conductor. Since 2009, she has been the Principal Conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall for the Minnesota Orchestra, and also serves as Staff Conductor at the Curtis Institute of Music.^[3][4][5]

Hicks, a Japanese-American, was born in Tokyo to Richard and Kazuko Hicks; her father was an American lawyer and her mother a classical Japanese dancer.^[2][6] She was raised in Honolulu, where she trained as a violist and pianist, graduating from the Punahou School in 1989.^[7] In 1993, Hicks graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with an A.B. in music,^[8] winning the Thomas Hoopes Prize for undergraduate theses and the Doris Cohen Levy Prize for conducting. She then studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, winning a Presser Award and graduating with an Artist's Degree in conducting.^[9]

Hicks previously served as Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony,^[10] Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra,^[5] Resident Conductor of the Florida Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor of the Reading Symphony and Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Singers, the chorus of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was for five seasons Music Director of the Hawaii Summer Symphony, an ensemble she founded in 1991. After graduating from Curtis, she was for one season assistant conductor to the Verbier Festival Orchestra, training with James Levine.

As a guest conductor, Hicks has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Prime Philharmonic (Seoul, Korea), East Slovak State Opera Theatre, New National Theatre Tokyo, the Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.^[9]

She has collaborated with Jaime Laredo, Hilary Hahn, Ben Folds, Smokey Robinson, and Sting, for whom she served as conductor on the final leg of his Symphonicities Tour. In June 2012 she conducted the opening concert of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, in a program featuring Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sumi Jo and Jackie Evancho. She has conducted some famous film music scores with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, including masterpieces by Italian composer Ennio Morricone and his Dollars Trilogy, as well as works by Nino Rota.

Hicks lives in San Francisco with her husband, horn player Paul LaFollette, whom she met while studying at the Curtis Institute of Music.^[11][12]