ACADEMIC BIOGRAPHY:

Sarah Le Van Seaman is a third-year doctoral student in musicology at the University of Pennsylvania. A graduate of Princeton University, she pursues interdisciplinary research spanning performance studies; the intersections of music, literature, visual art, and gender; medievalism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; and the interart movement in France. Her current work focuses on the vocal compositions of Déodat de Séverac and the influence of troubadours, as well as symbolist art and literature, on his regionalist aesthetic. Le Van holds a master’s degree in violin performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and is an active classical violinist and singer. She also serves as graduate coordinator for the University of Pennsylvania concert series “Music in the Pavilion.”

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PERFORMING BIOGRAPHY:

Sarah Le Van Seaman is a music studies doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. A summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, she has devoted her research interests to a wide range of interdisciplinary areas: performance studies; the intersection between music, literature, visual arts, and gender; medievalism in the 19th and early 20th centuries; and the interart movement in France. A recipient of the Performer Diploma and Master’s in violin performance from Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, she also studied violin through competitive admission at the Royal College of Music in London in 2016. Since the age of seven, she has performed regularly with the Le Van Family ensemble, including her sister, Solène Le Van (soprano), her brother (jazz pianist), and her father, Eric Le Van, classical pianist and recording artist. Le Van Seaman has performed widely as a soloist in chamber and jazz ensembles, notably in the 26th International Jazz Festival in Munster (featured on television France 3), the Brunneby Concerts in Sweden, the Aspen Music Festival, the Curtis Theatre under the patronage of Resonance Records, and UPenn’s Music in the Pavilion series. In 2012, she was invited to perform in the International Vianden Festival in Luxembourg under the patronage of the US embassy. In May 2013, she sang and performed on the violin with jazz legend Michel Hausser's trio in Munster, France, headlining the first half of the opening concert to the 26th Munster Jazz Festival alongside other members of her family, the second half featuring Manu Dibango. Currently, she is a member of the UPenn Baroque Ensemble as well as Le Parnasse, a chamber music group that specializes in 17th and 18th century French and Italian music.