Swiss violist Sarah Strohm belongs to a generation of young musicians for whom international competitions remain an important gateway to visibility. Yet what makes the 21-year-old artist particularly interesting is not simply the speed of her rise, but the musical personality beginning to emerge behind the prizes.
That personality became difficult to ignore at the 2025 Concours de Genève, where Strohm shared First Prize with violist Brian Isaacs while also receiving the Audience Prize, Young Audience Prize, and Students’ Prize. Such a sweep of distinctions suggested something beyond technical accomplishment: a musician capable of connecting with very different listeners at once.
The Geneva Competition victory marked an important international breakthrough, but Strohm’s trajectory had already been developing steadily for several years. Born in Geneva on May 10, 2005, she began studying viola at the age of seven with Noémie Bialobroda at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. She later continued her training in Paris with Jean Sulem at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, while refining her artistic profile through institutions such as the Verbier Festival Academy, the Seiji Ozawa International Academy, and the Kronberg Academy Workshops.
Along the way, she has worked with many of the leading figures of the viola world, including Antoine Tamestit, Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, and Nobuko Imai. But what stands out most is not the prestige of those names alone, but the artistic direction suggested by Strohm’s repertoire choices and musical interests.
One of the composers she feels especially drawn to is Paul Hindemith, whose music occupies a unique place in the viola repertoire: intellectually rigorous, emotionally complex, and deeply tied to the instrument’s identity as a solo voice rather than merely an orchestral colour. Strohm has spoken of her interest in expanding the viola’s solo presence, and her repertoire already moves naturally between canonical works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, and Béla Bartók, as well as contemporary music such as Léo Albisetti’s Nouvel Élan.
That artistic curiosity was particularly evident in Geneva, where she performed Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Cornelius Meister in the final round. The work — unfinished at the composer’s death and completed posthumously — remains one of the great emotional and technical challenges for any violist. Strohm approached it not as a display vehicle but with an introspective and collaborative sensibility that appears central to her musicianship.
Indeed, chamber music seems to occupy a particularly important place in her artistic world. During a recent interview reflecting on the Geneva Competition, Strohm described the chamber music round as the moment when she felt “100% in the music,” adding that she would probably remember it for the rest of her life. The remark reveals much about an artist who appears more interested in musical dialogue than in competition rhetoric.
That collaborative instinct has already led her to perform alongside musicians such as Antje Weithaas, Garth Knox, and Corina Belcea at festivals including Vevey Spring Classic, Puplinge Classique, Murten Classics, and Herbst in der Helferei. Still, what makes Strohm particularly compelling at this stage is the impression of an artist developing patiently and thoughtfully, rather than rushing to conform to the standard image of the young virtuoso.
Speaking about major competitions, she once described them as “almost like a marathon for an athlete,” emphasizing the emotional resilience they require. It was a strikingly grounded observation from a musician who had just emerged as one of the leading young violists of her generation.
For now, Sarah Strohm’s career remains in its early chapters. But her combination of musical intelligence, emotional maturity, and commitment to the viola as a truly expressive solo instrument already suggests a voice worth following closely.
By Moto Perpetuo Staff
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