Sally Clarke

Born in Brisbane, Australia, Sally Clarke began her musical career with violin at the age of 11; one year later she took up the viola as well. She graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Music, Honours, degree (and various prizes and distinctions), performing with diverse chamber ensembles, and as soloist, with the Queensland Youth Orchestra on its 1986 New Zealand Tour, and with the Camerata of St John’s, of which she was a founding member. A German Government Scholarship (DAAD) enabled her to further her studies with Professor Rainer Moog in Cologne; thereafter she attended the Herbert-von-Karajan Akademie in Berlin, performing regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1988 she was Principal Viola with the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra, under Sergiu Celibidache, from whose mentoring she benefitted greatly.

Chamber music festivals and solo performances have taken Sally around Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Russia. In 2014 she participated in the World Harp Festival in Sydney, and in 2017 at the Southern Highlands Festival in NSW, Australia.

Sally Clarke’s recordings for CD and radio include the Sonatas by Luigi von Kunits and Wilhelm Killmayer. "another sort of fire", on Bayer Records, features works by contemporary women composers. Other interests include "Cross-over" projects involving oriental music, live dance-theatre and improvisation to silent movies. In 2009 she founded the trio "Blue Ayre", together with Cynthia Oppermann, harp, and Veronika Fuchs, flute. Their CD "Blue Ayre" (available on iTunes), released in 2013, features works by Debussy, Bartok, and a specially commissioned work by Rüdiger Oppermann (Celtic harp), with whose ensemble “KlangWelten” she has toured extensively.

Sally has taught and coached many masterclasses and youth orchestras, notably the Interregional Youth Orchestra (IRO) in Ochsenhausen, and, more recently, the Australian Youth Orchestra. Her teaching style has been described as particularly empowering…

A member of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart (SWR) since 1992, Sally is now also a member of the highly acclaimed Australian World Orchestra. She has appeared with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and with Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt.

Her most recent project is a string trio, “Trio Krása”, whose aim is to perform forgotten music from the Holocaust.
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