About

Based in Pittsburgh and Brooklyn, flutist Sarah Steranka enjoys a multifaceted career as a recitalist, chamber musician, and advocate for new and experimental music. Since making her solo debut with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic at the age of nineteen, she has dedicated her career to exploring the innovative work of living composers and pushing the boundaries of her instruments. Ms. Steranka has premiered works by Ramin Akhavijou, Marilyn Shrude, Elizabeth Brown, Zvonimir Nagy, Devon Osamu Tipp, Erin Rogers, Nicole Mitchell, Nancy Galbraith, Lauren Siess, and countless others.
Ms. Steranka has presented programs of new and experimental music at the 2021 SCI National Student Conference, the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Flute Festival, Music on the Edge’s Beyond Microtonal Music Festival, the New Jersey Flute Fair, The Pittsburgh Festival of New Music, and The Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound festival. Her recordings of solo and chamber works have been published by Sound Silence Thought, Albany Records, and Naxos, and have in addition been self-published by countless composers.
As a symphony musician, Ms. Steranka is second flute of the Westmoreland Symphony and also appears as a guest with the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, the Akron Symphony, and the Erie Philharmonic. In addition, she is a core member of the nationally recognized new music collective Kamratōn, where she plays flute and piccolo as well as alto and bass flutes. She also makes up one half of the acclaimed Brooklyn-based group SydeBoob Duo, a group dedicated to commissioning new works for flute & voice and amplifying the voices of women in the arts.
In addition to maintaining a private studio of 30+ students through the Steranka Flute Studio, LLC, Ms. Steranka maintains faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Flute Academy. She has also appeared as a guest artist and lecturer at Penn State University, Duke University, West Virginia University’s International Flute Symposium, and Columbus State University. Ms. Steranka’s instructional work has also included teaching actors to play the flute for film roles. She is passionate about teaching music to students of all ages and abilities, and finds joy and inspiration in the power music has to strengthen a community, topics she discussed as a panelist on the NFA 2021 National Convention discussion panel “Community-Minded Musicianship.”
Ms. Steranka holds a master's degree from Duquesne University where she studied with Jennifer Steele and performed with the Triano Woodwind Quintet under the artistic guidance of James Gorton. She earned a BFA at Carnegie Mellon University where her principal teachers were Alberto Almarza and Jeanne Baxtresser.
Ms. Steranka has presented programs of new and experimental music at the 2021 SCI National Student Conference, the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Flute Festival, Music on the Edge’s Beyond Microtonal Music Festival, the New Jersey Flute Fair, The Pittsburgh Festival of New Music, and The Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound festival. Her recordings of solo and chamber works have been published by Sound Silence Thought, Albany Records, and Naxos, and have in addition been self-published by countless composers.
As a symphony musician, Ms. Steranka is second flute of the Westmoreland Symphony and also appears as a guest with the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, the Akron Symphony, and the Erie Philharmonic. In addition, she is a core member of the nationally recognized new music collective Kamratōn, where she plays flute and piccolo as well as alto and bass flutes. She also makes up one half of the acclaimed Brooklyn-based group SydeBoob Duo, a group dedicated to commissioning new works for flute & voice and amplifying the voices of women in the arts.
In addition to maintaining a private studio of 30+ students through the Steranka Flute Studio, LLC, Ms. Steranka maintains faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Flute Academy. She has also appeared as a guest artist and lecturer at Penn State University, Duke University, West Virginia University’s International Flute Symposium, and Columbus State University. Ms. Steranka’s instructional work has also included teaching actors to play the flute for film roles. She is passionate about teaching music to students of all ages and abilities, and finds joy and inspiration in the power music has to strengthen a community, topics she discussed as a panelist on the NFA 2021 National Convention discussion panel “Community-Minded Musicianship.”
Ms. Steranka holds a master's degree from Duquesne University where she studied with Jennifer Steele and performed with the Triano Woodwind Quintet under the artistic guidance of James Gorton. She earned a BFA at Carnegie Mellon University where her principal teachers were Alberto Almarza and Jeanne Baxtresser.
Interested in what current students are saying? Visit the "Testimonials" page here to learn more!
Listen to samples of my playing here!