Sarah Overton
[Probably]
does too much.

She is three parts:

Performing Artist

Sarah Overton is a New York–based cellist and composer. In her solo performance practice, she experiments with dense sonic motion through a chain of electronic effects that blur the line between classical tradition and modern melodic exploration. 

Drawn to spaces that can be used as instruments, she has carried her practice into the worlds of installation, multimedia, and new music. At the 36,000-square-foot concrete Poughkeepsie Cistern, she created a sound installation with the studio of artist Sam Stubblefield, DJ J. Period, and MASS Design Group. She served as the music supervisor for the New York installation of the international multimedia series Limitless AI: Superstrings, and made a recent compositional premiere at Re:Sound Festival alongside electro-trumpeter Theresa May. She has been a collaborative artist in residence with Looking Glass Arts, Groundworks, Trio LeGrand, and the Movement Theatre Company, and her duo with cellist Brittany Harris earned a 2025 New Music USA Creator Fund award.

Alongside her solo practice runs a deep love of popular music and its power to bring new audiences to the orchestral experience. Sarah has performed with Alicia Keys, Harry Styles, Lalah Hathaway, Asake (Red Bull Symphonic), Cory Henry, Tobe Nwigwe, and more. Her recent credits include Broadway's Hell's Kitchen and Moulin Rouge!, the 63-city tour of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert, the Hollywood Bowl premiere of Barbie: The Movie in Concert, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her 2026 collection of arrangements, Quiet Storm for String Quartet: Book 1, brings Quiet Storm–era R&B and soul, a critically underexamined 20th-century movement, into the string quartet repertoire.

Her developing experimental body of compositions, Cycles of Nutrition and Decay, premieres in 2027. 

As an Arts Advocate, Sarah has made a lasting impact on the cultural landscape by prioritizing the creation of urgent and accessible artistic opportunities and experiences for audiences of all ages. Sarah has been a guest speaker on panels for Columbia University, George Washington University, and MSU Denver on the subjects of “Arts and Civic Engagement”, "User Experience Design for Arts Nonprofit Organizations," and “Expanding the BIPOC Classical Repertoire”.  Sarah treasures most her experience as the Director of Central Florida based arts program “A Gift For Music,” - an organization dedicated to breaking down barriers between students and strings education.

She continues her advocacy work speaking regularly at schools and nonprofit organizations in NYC about the importance of access to classical artforms in non-traditional spaces and genres.

Arts Advocate

Arts Fundraiser

In 2024, Sarah founded Creative Arts Exchange (CAX), an arts consulting organization serving artists and small/midsize nonprofit arts organizations with grant writing services, individual donor management, workshops, and more. At CAX, Sarah has consulted with arts organizations in New York City to secure grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and advise on individual donor strategies to raise more than $125K for NYC-based arts organizations in the past 2 years.

In her most recent corporate fundraising consultation role as the Director of Project Onboarding at CCS Fundraising, Sarah led feasibility studies to build campaign frameworks for esteemed institutions such as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Clark Art Institute, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Perez Art Museum Miami.

Sarah holds advanced degrees in Performing Arts Administration (with a concentration in Arts Finance) from New York University, and in Cello Performance from Stetson University under the tutelage of David Bjella.

  • Alicia Keys x Apple Music @ Grand Central Station

  • RedBull Symphonic x Asake @ Kings Theater

  • Moncler x Tobe Nwigwe "Warmer Together" Campaign

  • Barbie: The Movie in Concert @ The Hollywood Bowl

  • 2025 New Music USA Winner: FEMPIRE

  • 99th Macy's Day Parade x Callum Scott

  • Hell's Kitchen Broadway

  • Ray Chew's Night of Inspiration @ Carnegie Hall

  • Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse National Tour

  • "Passing The Crown" @ Lincoln Center

  • Moulin Rouge! Broadway