Sara Zazo was born in Madrid in 1989. She studied in the class of professor Vicente Contador at CSM Badajoz (Spain) and after graduating from the conservatory, she moved abroad to complete her studies, first in Bordeaux, France, with professor Marie-Bernadette Charrier in Conservatoire Jacques Thibaud and after in Switzerland, with Pierre-Stéphane Meugé at HEMU Lausanne.
In 2018, Sara is granted the Fritz Gerber Award and, in 2016, she takes the Second Prize of Kiefer Hablitzel Stiftung. Zazo’s career has been supported by the likes of Fondations Lyra, Fondation Max Jost and Fondation Irène Dénéréaz. Furthermore, she successfully takes part in several national and international competitions.
Sara has a very active and international artistic career and she is a member of various ensembles including Duo saxophone and piano Zazo - Moreno and Sax Consort (Saxophones of the Renaissance). She is particularly devoted to contemporary music and is the co-founder the duet Altera Inde, IBSUD Quartet and ACUTE Sax Trio. She is also the artistic co-director of the CONTAINER #BJZ Ensemble.
Sara collaborates regularly with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Orchestre de Chambre de Genève. She has also been invited to play with Lemanic Modern Ensemble, Ensemble Contrechamps, Verbier Festival, Lucerne Festival Academy, Lucerne ALUMNI Ensemble, Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival Academy, Orquesta de Palau des Arts, Orquesta de Extremadura, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and City Light Orchestra. She has worked with maestros such as Riccardo Chailly, Matthias Pintscher, Simon Rattle, Peter Eötvös, Alan Gilbert, Susanna Mälki, Jonathan Nott, Neemi Järvi, Kazuki Yamada and Christoph Eschenbach. Thanks to all of her concert activities, Sara has performed on many prestigious stages such as ElbPhilharmonie Hamburg, KKL Luzerne, Victoria Hall, Fundación Juan March, Roulette Intermedium New York, LAC Lugano, La Seine Musicale Paris, etc.
Passionate with and committed to the art of her time, she has worked with composers such as Simon Steen Andersen, Stefano Gervasoni, Heinz Holliger, Georges Aperghis, Peter Eötvos, Olga Neuwirth, Gonzalo Navarro, Roland Willmann – among others – and she has taken part twice to the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, first in 2016 and more recently in 2018.
On the pedagogical side, Sara has been invited to give saxophone masterclasses at PESMD Bordeaux Aquitaine, University of Minnesota School of Music, Conservatorio Profesional de Zamora, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Badajoz and Conservatoire de Birmingham, Melbourne Faculty of Music, among other institutions. Sara is also the co founder of the Séminaire d’Excellence Instrumentale, which take part in Payerne, (Switzerland) and the Altera Inde Sax - Seminars in Extremadura, Spain.
Since 2016, Sara is the principal saxophone teacher at Conservatoire de La Broye in Switzerland.
Photo credit : Juanma Zarzo - Orchestre da Chiesa
