Sarah Zaslaw joined GPB in 1998 and two years later won the GABBY Award for best locally produced radio show. Now as music director she produces and hosts three programs—Serendipity, Front Row Georgia and The ASO on GPB—and is the voice of GPB Classical. Sarah grew up playing violin and never stopped. She did classical radio for fun in college, studied half a dozen languages, earned two history degrees and worked as a freelance book editor before melding her loves for sounds, cultures and words into a career in public media. About music, she agrees with Duke Ellington: “If it sounds good, it is good.”
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra second chair Lauren Roth-Gómez stopped by GPB to talk with Sarah Zaslaw about her history with the Bach Double and other bits of her background — including quite determinedly asking Santa for her very first instrument.
Many noted guest artists perform with the Atlanta Symphony each year, but it’s the musicians on the stage week in and week out who make the orchestra what it is. One of those is clarinetist Iván Valbuena.
GPB’s Sarah Zaslaw recently invited this busy conductor to chat with a focus on her roots and roles in metro Atlanta. In their conversation, Dworetz often zooms in on the human element in music: what it means to create sparkling art in relationship with the real people around you, for the real people listening.
Starting in March, The ASO on GPB brings you fresh performances from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s 2023–24 season—Nathalie Stutzmann’s second as music director.
