Described by the New York Times as a conductor with “unquestionable strength and authority” Sarah Ioannides’ dynamic presence on the podium has won praise from audience and critics internationally. The LA Times wrote of Sarah as “one of six female conductors breaking the glass podium”.
Sarah is one of the most multi-faceted, engaging and inventive female Music Directors of her generation. In 2025 she was awarded the Les & Estelle Reid Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her bold artistic leadership, vision, and extraordinary contribution to Symphony Tacoma. On July 1, 2026 she was honored becoming their Music Director Laureate.
Recent debuts include orchestras such as the San Antonio Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, Konzerthaus Orchester, Berlin, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Phoenix Symphony and Sarasota Orchestra. After stepping in with the Calgary Philharmonic, she returned as guest later that season. Upcoming engagements include the Iceland Symphony and the WDR Symphony Orchestra.
Since commencing her career with the Cincinnati Symphony, Sarah was the first woman appointed to the full-time conducting staff. Sarah has also led the Buffalo Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, New West Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic amongst many of the better-known orchestras in the US.
With a commitment to education Sarah has appeared at the world’s top conservatories and youth orchestras including Yale School of Music, Malmö Conservatory and the Curtis Institute of Music. She was recently appointed Director of Orchestras at Boston University, Associate Professor and Chair of Orchestral Conducting and held the position of Conductor in Residence with NYO-USA in 2023.
With a passion for new music, Sarah has conducted and curated over sixty world, North American and European orchestral premieres. She has recorded and produced many original videos for live orchestral multimedia performances and digital productions, previously as an assistant and production coordinator with composer/conductor Tan Dun from whom she began to develop her unique artistry. Sarah was iInvited by Tan Dun to prepare the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Flemish Radio Orchestra and to conduct his Water Passion After St. Matthew at the Perth International Arts Festival and the Metamorphosis Festival in Athens, she branched out into visual arts performances in combination with live orchestral performances. Sarah has directed, produced and commissioned films for numerous live and digital orchestral multimedia performances.
On disc, Sarah has recorded multiple World Premieres including the works of Hindson, Corigliano, Samuelsson with the RPO, Nordic Chamber Orchestra and Malmö Symphony Orchestra. She will continue her output in 2026 with works by 19th century composer, Elfrida Andrée. Through her performances, recordings, scholarship, and education, she has helped return overlooked masterpieces, particularly by women composers, to the international repertoire while championing new orchestral voices.
As former Music Director with the El Paso Symphony (2005 – 2011) and Spartanburg Philharmonic (2005 – 2017), Sarah was instrumental in the awarding of ArtWorks grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Since 2025 she has been a founding member of the League of American Orchestras Council.
Founding Artistic Director of Cascade Masterclass for conductors and composers, Sarah gives regular masterclasses internationally and appears on advisory boards, as an adjudicator, public speaker, and educator. She has twice served as panelist for the US Government’s National Endowment for the Arts.
With Masters degrees from Oxford University and The Juilliard School, Sarah attended the Curtis Institute of Music as a Fulbright Scholar, becoming the assistant to the late Otto-Werner Mueller. Recipient of the Nordell Prize she received an Advanced Certificate in Conducting from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Married to Scott Hartman, renowned soloist, chamber musician and Lecturer of Music at Yale School of Music, Sarah and Scott raised three children amid their busy professional lives. Sarah has been an avid long-distance runner and she won “first place woman” in Tacoma’s The Defiance (30k) and qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2022.