Sarah Hawbecker serves as Redeemer’s Organist and Director of Children’s Music. She joined the staff in 1996. At Redeemer, she oversees a program of two children’s choirs, a youth choir, four handbell choirs, a summer music camp, and a concert series.
Sarah is an active recitalist, full-time church musician, and winner of numerous competitions. She is a prize winner of both the 1998 and 1996 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. She won first place in the 1988 Undergraduate Organ Competition, Ottumwa, Iowa, and was a finalist in the 1992 Spivey International Competition.
Sarah’s performances have been recorded and broadcast on American Public Media’s radio program Pipedreams®. She has presented workshops and performed for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and for conferences of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. Her articles have been published in several professional journals: The American Organist (AGO), CrossAccent (ALCM), and The Chorister (Choristers Guild). She has adjudicated several organ competitions, most notably the semi-final round of the 2008 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance.
A native of Illinois, Ms. Hawbecker studied organ and church music with John Ferguson at St. Olaf College, where she earned the Bachelor of Music degree, Magna cum laude with Departmental Distinction, and was elected into Pi Kappa Lambda, the Music Honor Society. She went on to earn the Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Russell Saunders. An active lifetime member of the American Guild of Organists, she served three terms on its National Council and completed two terms on the Board of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians as a regional president.
She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Billy Fuller, and their son, Jonathan.
Sarah’s favorite passage of scripture is Romans 8:38.
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