PT97: “Take us on a Journey,” Sarah Ioannides on Cascade Conducting, Effective Collaborations, and the Power of Nature to Enhance an Experience

Podium Time

Today we talk with Sarah Ioannides about how she founded Cascade Conducting to share her experiences and the lessons from her conducting teachers, how to create an effective collaboration, and how creating videos to accompany Symphony Tacoma's virtual concerts led her to a deeper appreciation of her orchestra and the music.
Today we discuss:

• Sarah’s early experiences as a musician and how that led to her becoming a conductor (2:50)
• How Sarah shares the lessons she’s learned from great teachers with a new generation of students through Cascade Conducting (12:35)
• Using your repertoire list to help identify your niche as a performer, and Sarah walks us through her specific focuses (20:03)
• How Sarah started working with Tan Dun as his Assistant Conductor, and her process of commissioning both new music and new films to accompany existing pieces (25:43)
• The most important factors for working successfully with a symphony staff and orchestra, and why it’s our job to express why our music is important (33:37)
• Symphony Tacoma’s virtual schedule during COVID shutdown and how Sarah’s project of creating visuals for archived concerts has helped her connect more deeply with the piece and her orchestra (40:00)
• Advice Sarah received but regrets not following, Hidden Gems, and a Harry Potter quote for her Billboard (50:24)

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Cascade Conducting
• Symphony Tacoma
  • Youtube Page
  • Fire Mountain and the Tabla Concerto
  • Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto

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