Sarah Lyn Pearson

I attribute my success to tenacity and never giving up. Ultimately, I know that I have a higher purpose, that my life trajectory and plan is that I want to help shape the future of where orchestral music feels relevant, accessible, and reflective of the world we live in today. From my faith to my upbringing and even my history and lineage of my family, it just comes very naturally. That helps sustain me, even when it's hard, because it is hard. I'm constantly looking for more players, and when money is tight and we don't have enough donations coming in, I have to figure out how to make it work. I've worked with the Cleveland Orchestra for 9 years and still have not taken a paycheck, but I do it because I love it, and I'm still looking for that wonderful endowment that will come for them.

My mentor, Bob Bernhardt, would always say to me, especially during grad school, remember to keep breathing. We forget to breathe, and we forget to reground ourselves. He would say, you're relaxed, you're calm, and you're at peace, and you can do hard things, but you have to be in control of how you feel about it. That's really important.

I would say that we're at a moment where leadership is shifting, and arts have an opportunity to really lead the change. We're not just conducting music, but we're helping shape what that looks like in this field moving forward. Just keep showing up, don't give up on yourself. My mentor, Joanne Falletta, would say you have to grow thick skin, you have to just not let that deter you. If you do get rejections, and they mount up, I've lost count over the years of how many rejections I've received, but often I find that those rejections are a protection. I wasn't meant to be there, and things that I'm meant for will happen, but you do have to put in the work, you do have to study, you do have to do the grind, that all-day long kind of thing. In the end, it's worth it. Music is the most powerful way that we tell our human stories, and I want to be intentional about where that's heard. I don't want to just conduct concerts, I want to create experiences that invite people in.

I think engaging younger audiences is a huge opportunity. Ever since the pandemic, even though we're all back and everything's up and moving now, we lost some momentum because we were almost at the peak with a lot of the orchestras. It's about inviting people back to come to live concerts and be a part of it, because they found the ease of access to watching things online or not being present. I want to show the value of experiencing the entire process, not just being able to hear it, but to experience it. I want to help shape the future where the orchestra feels relevant, accessible, and reflective of the world that we live in. What I do in Arkansas with my Inside the Music program is a 360-degree look at the concert experience. Before the concert, I give them clips of what the music may sound like from the composer, articles, and I do interviews so they come to the concert feeling more prepared. I even give them places to dine and stay. We focus on middle school and high school students because by that time they're more aware, they're playing instruments, they're involved in orchestra or band or chorus, but there's this gap. We have a mentorship program where our key principal players go to the schools and help assist the school teachers with getting students ready for auditions. Then we bring them in for a concert and give them a free ticket to come with a parent to have that experience and build that connection. It also brings the parents in, so we're always looking for opportunities to connect our youth to this.

I want to make sure that I'm creating a space where people feel loved and cared for. I have two children that are in college now, and my husband is busy in his career, but the things that I do at home should be reflected outside. I'm taking care of what I need to at home so that I can have moments of growth and impact outside of that. To be the most impactful, I need to be intentional, making it possible for others to see that I'm putting in the work, but that anybody can do this if they work hard. It's not going to come by just happenstance. Ultimately, it's rooted in connection, collaboration, and being willing to invite people to the table to join in and be part of the process.