Sarah Murray Espinoza

Sarah Murray Espinoza always loved music, singing at home and creating her own tunes on the family piano from age four. She remembers hearing her dad play trumpet and piano in their home, and listening to tapes of her Aunt singing opera arias. She fell in love with the violin at age 6 and wanted to become a violinist when she grew up. She earned a Bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in Violin Performance from Valparaiso University and a Master’s degree in Violin Performance from the College of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her major teachers were Andrew Smith, Gregory Maytan, and Oswald Lehnert. Other influential teachers were Clara Takarabe and Margaret Gutierrez. She was a winner of the Valparaiso University concerto competition in 2006, and performed Beethoven’s Romance in F as soloist with the Valparaiso University Symphony Orchestra.

Sarah was Principal Second Violin of the Boulder Symphony Orchestra from 2013-2017. Other orchestral experience has been with the Auburn Symphony Orchestra, North State Symphony, Paradise Symphony, Boulder Opera Company, Fort Collins Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, and Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. She has attended the National Music Festival, the Masterworks Festival, the Stamford International Music Festival, and was a member of the Blue Lake International Youth Orchestra. Her youth and university orchestra experiences brought her opportunities to tour and perform in Europe and China.​

Sarah is a registered Suzuki Violin Teacher, training with Edward Kreitman and William Starr, and is Suzuki certified through Book Eight. She taught Suzuki violin at the Center for Musical Arts in Lafayette, Colorado from 2010-17. She was a Suzuki violin teacher at Strings in Schools in Paradise and Oroville, CA from 2017-2018. Her teaching experience includes coaching at the Butte MTAC Youth Orchestra, the Chico Summer Music Academy, the Longmont Youth Symphony, the High Plains Youth Symphony, and the Chamber Intensive Camp at Valparaiso University.

With fifteen years’ teaching experience, her encouraging and thoughtful teaching style inspires students to find a love for music. Passionate about the power of music to change the world, her goal in teaching is, in the words of Dr. Suzuki, to guide students to develop “sensitivity, discipline, and endurance, and to grow a beautiful heart.” She has a private violin studio in West Sacramento and enjoys playing chamber music with colleagues, holds a position in the North State Symphony and subs with the Auburn Symphony.