• Grammy® Nominee Sara Caswell is recognized as one of today’s foremost jazz violinists through her lyricism and technical facility. Voted into the DownBeat Magazine Critics and Readers Polls every year since 2013, Sara’s artistry and unique sound led internationally-renowned jazz educator David Baker to write: “Sara Caswell is a brilliant world-class violinist...one of the very best of the present generation of emerging young jazz stars.”

    Sara has released three highly-acclaimed albums under her own name, the most recent of which is The Way to You (2023, Anzic Records). She has been part of groups led by esperanza spalding (Chamber Music Society), Linda Oh (Aventurine), and David Krakauer (The Big Picture), and has performed and/or recorded with artists and ensembles including the WDR Big Band, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, John Patitucci, Donny McCaslin, Darcy James Argue, Fred Hersch, Henry Threadgill, Dave Stryker, Helen Sung, Miho Hazama, Christian Sands, Regina Carter, Kishi Bashi, and Bruce Springsteen. She is also a member of Joseph Brent's 9 Horses trio, Chuck Owen's The Jazz Surge, and the Caswell Sisters Quintet (a group she co-leads with her sister, vocalist Rachel Caswell). Sara has performed at Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, SFJazz, Disney Hall, Barbican, and Blue Note (NYC and Tokyo), and at jazz festivals including Newport, Montreal, Montreux, North Sea, Banlieues Bleues, and Saratoga Springs among others.

    Currently on faculty at the Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, The New School, and New York University, Sara’s formidable teaching experience also includes the Mark O’Connor String Camps, the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops, the Indiana University String Academy, and a private studio. She gives jazz string improvisation workshops and masterclasses nationwide and is involved with Jazz Education Network and American String Teachers Association.

    Raised in a musical family, Sara began playing violin at age 5 and studied with two legendary giants: Josef Gingold (classical) and David Baker (jazz). She made her orchestral debut at 15, earned degrees from Indiana University and Manhattan School of Music, and amassed over 100 awards in the jazz and classical competition worlds. Jazz educator, author, and critic Dr. Herb Wong said: “A gifted starbright talent of the first magnitude, Sara is a top tier member of the young generation of major voices.”