SARAH O'FLYNN
Sub-Principal Flute
Sarah O’Flynn pursues a demanding and varied career as a performer and educationalist. She is a founding member of the chamber ensemble Chroma, and has been sub principal flute with Britten Sinfonia since 2006. She also freelances with numerous orchestras throughout the uk, performing and recording in concert halls across the world.
As an advocate of contemporary music Sarah has premiered innumerable new works, and workshopped hundreds of student compositions both with Britten Sinfonia and with Chroma as Ensemble-in-Residence at Royal Holloway University, Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music. Since 2023 she has personally commissioned and premiered new chamber works from Freya Waley-Cohen, Rory Boyle, Philip Cashian and Natalie Klouda.
For many years, she was a member of The Marais Ensemble, curating an extensive annual chamber music festival in her hometown of Potton - Bedfordshire, including a broad outreach programme. One of her highlights was performing Steve Reich’s Clapping Music in full Scooby Doo costume. In 2022 she launched Red Kite Concerts with Christian Forshaw: a bimonthly series of intimate chamber music concerts in beautiful spaces.
Sarah strongly believes in the health-giving properties of music-making. She taught for over two decades at Goldsmiths College and is heavily involved in diverse outreach projects delivered by Britten Sinfonia: schools’ projects, community music-making for those living with dementia; concerts in hospitals; workshops in SEND settings, and Britten Sinfonia Academy.
She studied at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded a postgraduate scholarship.