Composer and Pianist Sarah Gibson has Died, Aged 38

Gibson was half of the piano duo HOCKET, and her works were premiered by a number of prestigious ensembles

The composer and pianist Sarah Gibson passed away at the age of 38, following a battle with colon cancer.

Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1986, Gibson first began learning the piano at the age of 7, and by her teenage years, she was the pianist and principal keyboardist of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. She studied both the piano and composition at Indiana University, before receiving her master's and doctorate from the University of Southern California.

As a composer, she held the Copland House Residency, and received commissions from the League of American Orchestras and the Toulmin Foundation, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Summer Music Festival & School, Grossman Ensemble, and Seattle Symphony, among others.

Alongside Thomas Kotchett, she founded the piano duo HOCKET, which held residencies at Avaloch Farm Music Institute and received grants from the Earle Brown Music Foundation and the Presser Foundation. HOCKET also made appearances at festivals including the MATA Festival, the L.A. Philharmonic's Noon to Midnight, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, and the Other Minds Festival.

Her Left-hand Piano Concerto was the winner of USC's New Music for Orchestra competition, and Gibson herself performed the solo role at the work's premiere.

Gibson is survived by her husband Aaron Fullerton and their son Benjamin, as well as her own parents and her brother. Our condolences to Gibson's family, friends, and colleagues.

"Sarah was on a brilliant upward trajectory with her writing and career," fellow composer Andrew Norman told the Washington Post. "She was creating powerful, personal music. We are left with a beautifully crafted and deeply felt body of work that will live on."