Sadie Fields, violinist
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Canadian/British (and Brussels based) violinist Sadie Fields enjoys a diverse career as soloist, chamber musician, collaborator, and researcher. Sadie discovered the violin at the age of seven when her primary school went to see the famous Axelrod collection of Stradivarius violins. After she heard these Strads being played, she was hooked, and she started performing at an early age. Sadie performs regularly throughout Europe and North America, and her concerts also bring her to the Middle East, Asia, and New Zealand. Sadie has long been passionate about chamber music, and was the founding leader of the Castalian Quartet and violinist of Trio Khnopff.  She is also the founding violinist of the Festival Trio (Canada) and the Belgium-based Flash Ensemble, a flexible chamber ensemble with a string trio as its core. Sadie plays in recital with a number of fine pianists, and has recently formed a duo with Italian accordionist Luca Piovesan.  Sadie was a member of the Swedish ensemble Camerata Nordica for ten years, and she currently performs regularly with the New European Ensemble (Netherlands) and many other ensembles in Europe. 

As a recording artist, Sadie's most recent disc, ‘Weinberg – 1945’, by Trio Khnopff (Pavane Records), has met with great critical acclaim in Europe and North America, and was chosen as BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Chamber Disc of the Month’ for January 2020. Flash Ensemble's pioneering recording of the complete string trios by Hungarian composer Laszlo Lajtha will be released in Spring 2023. Sadie has recorded extensively for BIS Records Camerata Nordica, and has released two discs with Champs Hill Records. The first, a disc of Mendelssohn chamber music, was chosen as BBC Music Magazine’s Editor’s Choice and ‘Chamber Disc of the Month’, and was also ‘Chamber Music Disc of the Quarter’ by the German Record Critics’ Award Association. Sadie’s second disc for Champs Hill is the complete Brahms Sonatas with pianist Jeremy Young, released to widespread critical acclaim. Sadie also broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio New Zealand, NDR (Germany), Swedish radio, Klara (Belgium), Musiq’3 (Belgium), and NPO Radio 4 (Netherlands), amongst others.

Sadie holds a PhD from the Royal Academy of Music, London. Her practice-led doctoral research addresses practical and philosophical ideas associated with the concepts of learning and ‘tradition’, focusing on her own engagement with Bartók’s violin works. Sadie has won awards from over twenty UK and international associations and competitions, and has been a Leverhulme Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music and the Edison Visiting Fellow at the British Library.
 
Principal teachers include György Pauk, Yair Kless, and Atis Bankas, and Sadie has also been guided and mentored by Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel, and Ferenc Rados. As a teacher herself, Sadie teaches violin and chamber music, she taught at King's College London, and she gives masterclasses at conservatoires and universities in China, Canada, and the UK.

Teaching

I was fortunate to have some wonderful and inspiring teachers during my studies, and I enjoy passing on my knowledge and experience. I have been teaching for over 15 years and my experience ranges from teaching 4 year old total beginners to teaching advanced post-graduate performers. I have a small private studio in Brussels and I also teach online for students further afield. I regularly give public masterclasses at conservatoires and universities, and I have experience preparing students for ABRSM examinations. I am a member of the European String Teachers Association and I keep up to date with research in early childhood development and string pedagogy. 
For more information, please don't hesitate to get in touch through my contact form or on info@sadiefields.com