If you met Sarah Gibson at a party, she would spend most of the evening discovering your interests, your career, favorite book and best vacation. Until you asked, she wouldn’t mention her rising international reputation as a composer, the orchestral piece she was working on for The BBC Proms orchestral music program, or the many musical competitions she had won. A gifted pianist as well as a composer, Sarah Gibson wore her career accomplishments lightly.
“At 5 or 6 years old, her talent was clear to everyone,” says Elizabeth Hoye Haggard, a friend since toddler days. “I think she walked through life in love with music and the world around her.”
Surrounded by her family and close friends, Sarah Elizabeth Gibson died of colon cancer on July 14 in her Los Angeles home. After giving birth in September, she had been diagnosed with cancer in October.
The daughter of Joe and Beth Gibson of Johns Creek, Sarah was 38 years old. Her older brother James Gibson remembers that in elementary school Sarah entered the Reflections Arts Program, a competition sponsored by the National PTA. While some students wrote essays about their pets or families, Sarah submitted a winning piano composition.
“It was abundantly clear from an early age that she had a gift,” says James Gibson. “Being her brother was a tremendous blessing.”
As a student at Centennial High School, she was principal keyboardist for the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. At 17, she wrote “Summer’s Breath,” a concerto for cello and strings, which premiered at her high school and which was later played by the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. In reviewing the piece, Pierre Ruhe, former Atlanta Journal-Constitution music critic, said, “Gibson creates moments of striking elegance and panache, particularly in her orchestral writing — a serious talent to watch.”
“When she came into my studio, it was clear who she was,” says pianist Laura Gordy, who taught Gibson during four years of high school. “She had been doing improvisations and composing since she was 7. She knew where she wanted to go.”
Because Gibson was interested in composition, Gordy directed her to Nick Demos, who teaches composition at Georgia State. She saw him weekly, and he helped her prepare the portfolio for admission to the music program at Indiana University. As a high schooler, “Sarah was advanced,” Demos says. “She was receptive to comments and critiques, and she caught onto things quickly. She was a joy to be around.”
Gibson earned a bachelor’s degree in both piano performance and music composition at Indiana University. Later, she received a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in composition. She taught at music conservatories and colleges in southern California and was assistant director for the LA Philharmonic Composer Fellowship Program. One of her works, “to make this mountain taller,” was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras and premiered by the Sarasota Symphony in 2023. Other commissions came from, among others, the Toulmin Foundation, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Aspen Summer Music Festival & School, the Grossman Ensemble and the Seattle Symphony.
In addition to being artist for Piano Sphere, a Los Angeles arts group that presents new music concerts, Gibson cofounded a music piano duo, Hocket, with Thomas Kotcheff. He will work on completing “beyond the beyond,” a work commissioned by The BBC Proms, for a 2025 performance. She became too sick to complete the piece. This August, the BBC Philharmonic will play her 2021 composition “warp and weft” in Royal Albert Hall.
“Sarah was incredibly busy with her career, and her husband and new baby, but she always managed to find time for her family and friends,” says Haggard. “I really don’t know how she did it. She loved cooking and hosting.”
Violinist Chiasa Suzuki Webber met Gibson in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the two became and remained close friends. On visits to California, she says, Sarah and she would go to Sequoia National Park, go kayaking and sightseeing in Los Angeles. “I’ve been one of her fans since we were teenagers,” Webber says. “I’ve kept programs where she’s performed. It’s just such a tragedy because she had a lot more music to give.”
In addition to her parents and brother, Sarah Gibson is survived by her husband Aaron Fullerton, son Benjamin Reaves Fullerton, nephews Andrew and Thomas Gibson, grandmother Sara Arp Medlin, two aunts and two uncles. Memorial services are being planned in both Los Angeles and metro Atlanta.
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