Sari De Leon-Reist is Artistic Director of the Grammy-nominated Alias Chamber Ensemble. She plays with the Nashville Opera Orchestra and is a regular substitute for the Nashville Symphony. Sari was also a soloist with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and the Nexus Chamber Orchestra. In the popular music realm, she can be heard on the recordings of Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum), Kings of Leon, Faith Hill, Ben Folds, Train, Carrie Underwood, and many others. Sari received her Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Irene Sharp. She was formerly on the faculty of Mannes College of Music, School for Strings New York, and the Children’s Orchestra Society of New York, as well as the Governor’s School of the Arts in Tennessee and Lipscomb University. In 2018, she was a guest artist in the First National Youth Cello Festival in Ningbo, China. Sari teaches at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/22/2020.