Highlights from Sale’s full-length interview courtesy of Piano Magazine. Subscribe to read the full feature.

Sara joined the faculty of Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance in 2016, after previously teaching at the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the University of British Columbia. Praised for her "intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess" (New York Times), "thoughtful artistry in the full service of music" (Washington Post), and "astounding virtuosity" (Philippine Star), she was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the Gold Medalist of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition.

Like many, I first knew of Sara Davis Buechner as David. I remember seeing his picture over thirty years ago in the roster of Yamaha artists. Then, the picture and name changed. I remember reflecting on how much courage that must have required. I had no idea of the pain that led to that change, or the ensuing difficulties faced by this performing artist. Recently, I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Sara to discuss her life and her music. It was an hour filled with insights about teaching and learning, and most importantly about life, music, and the world in which we live. Speaking with Sara now, so many years later, is like skipping to the end of the book-finding out that there is a happy ending.

“I certainly know that music was my salvation when I was a young kid. It saved me from harassment, the bullying, the idiocy that I faced in public school. It gave me something to live for and look forward to besides my collection of pig toys and my beautiful orange cat that would love me no matter what.”

“We have to be prepared to go into elementary schools and talk about what music is. What does music do for us? I’ve seen it in action when I lived in the beautiful Bronx of New York City. I lived across the street from a little Catholic parish. This was a largely African American and Dominican community where I’d moved after being harassed out of my neighborhood in Manhattan. I would go to the church and see these young kids step up with their hymnals and start singing. I thought to myself, every pair of hands holding those music books, this is a pair of hands not holding a gun, or a syringe, or illegal cash, or something. What you fill your hands with determines so much of your life.”

“When I realized that I would transition, I planned for quite a while, and then I played sort of my new debut. I played two Chopin concertos with Jens Nygaard and his Jupiter Symphony. I found while preparing that music that yes, I was me. I really was me, and the music was coming from a very genuine place. I could sing the melodies; I could just express what I wanted to express, and I wasn’t acting a part. I wasn’t walking and pretending to be something or somebody that I wasn’t. I wouldn’t say my interpretation of music changed, but my ease with being on stage, my ability to just relax and play was new. I was making music – I wasn’t playing the part of a musician.”

“Find a way to keep your creative spark alive and find a way to give that creative spark to others, and you’ll make a big, big difference. You might make a lot of money, you might be broke, but it doesn’t matter. Without the creative spark, even if you have a billion dollars, you have nothing.”

Quotes from Craig Sale, "Living in Technicolor: An Interview with Sara Davis Buechner," Piano Magazine. Vol. 15, No.1 (Spring 2023): 8-16. Used with permission.