Experience the Music You Love — in a Whole New Way
Whether you’ve been attending concerts for decades or simply love the beauty of classical music, Behind the Notes invites you into a deeper listening experience.
Led by acclaimed soprano Sarah Hawkey, this 6-week series will take you inside the heart of great music.You’ll walk into your next concert with fresh ears — and a renewed love for the music you already enjoy.
A letter from Sarah:
Creator & Curator of Behind the Notes
This series comes directly from my passion for classical music. I’ve been enthusiastic about it my entire life. I can experience a piece a hundred times, and each time I revisit it, hear it anew. I want that for you, too!
The conversations I’ve had with colleagues about what we hear in the music, as the experts who devote our careers to it, are fascinating. Behind the Notes is my way of sharing that same experience with you.
If you’ve ever felt that “lit-up” sensation when hearing a favorite symphonic theme, a beloved aria, or even one unforgettable chord, you know the joy of getting behind the notes. I hope through our time together, you’ll experience more and more of those moments—and that our conversations will make the music you already love come to life in new ways.
My own path into classical music began at 13 years old. I stumbled across an LP of Leontyne Price singing Samuel Barber’s Hermit Songs. It was the most virtuosic, thrilling vocal music I had ever heard, and it opened the door to the vast world of classical voice, whereas before then I simply thought that Julie Andrews was the most “classical” it got.
At the same time, I was studying violin, and spent my teenage years immersed in chamber music and orchestral repertoire. I fell in love with the great violin concertos—Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Barber—as well as Bach’s unaccompanied violin and cello suites. These works shaped me just as studying classical voice did, and gave me a deep appreciation for symphonic & instrumental music.
After graduating from Conservatory, I moved to New York City and pursued opera and art song, but was also drawn in new directions. I worked with living composers in contemporary music—thrilling collaborations where the composer could sit in the room and shape their work with me. I was also welcomed into the early music community, singing Medieval song, Renaissance polyphony, and the vibrant chamber music of the baroque era- which ultimately captivated me and is what I specialize in performing today.
In this series, I want to bring you into all of these worlds—familiar works, hidden treasures, and unexpected connections. Through our time together, I hope your love of classical music will deepen as we go behind the notes.
About Sarah
Classical soprano Sarah Hawkey invites audiences into the heart of classical music with Behind the Notes: Classical Music from the Inside Out, a listening and lecture series that unpacks the musical complexity, stories, history, and expressive depth behind beloved works of the classical oeuvre.
Known for bringing warmth and clarity to complex ideas, she bridges the worlds of performer and listener, offering fresh insight into how classical music lives and breathes for today’s audiences. She often reminds listeners that historical performance is never really old—its vitality continues to speak with relevance today.
Sarah has performed with organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, Bard Summerscape Music Festival, and in countless performances at Carnegie Hall. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, on NPR, WNYC, and PBS Great Performances.
She also had the pleasure of being in the original cast of Ellen Reid’s p r i s m, produced by Beth Morrison Projects at LA Opera and the PROTOTYPE Festival, which was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
A specialist in baroque performance, as soprano soloist her credits include numerous cantatas by J. S. Bach as well as his St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, B Minor Mass; Vivaldi’s cantata for soprano soloist In furore iustissimae irae; and Handel’s Messiah.
Sarah is currently embarking on her first recording projects. Her debut solo album, featuring the music of 17th-century Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi, will be the first, followed by an album of English baroque works by Henry Purcell & John Dowland.
Sarah is also a champion of contemporary classical music. Her world premiere performances include Amie Morrison’s Surprisingly Poetic Moments from an Otherwise Typical Hiking Guidebook (inspired by her love of Yosemite’s high-country wilderness), Pamela Stein-Lynde’s Trespass (poetry by Sokunthary Svay about growing up as a refugee in New York City) and I will not go, and Gisle Kverndokk’s opera Upon This Handful of Earth. She also premiered numerous choral works through her tenure at the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street and many other professional choral ensembles in the US.
Through her Fairfield County voice studio located in Weston Center, Sarah has become a leading mentor for the next generation of singers, empowering young artists, emerging professionals, and adult singers.
Whether performing on stage, teaching voice, or in conversation with today’s audiences, Sarah is devoted to making classical music feel resonant, alive, and deeply human. She wants contemporary listeners to feel as connected to this music—so old, yet so vital today—as she does herself.
