Sarah's Summer Playlist

Sarah Hicks is busy; when she's not here in Minneapolis serving as our principal conductor for Live at Orchestra Hall leading concerts like An American in Paris in Concert or Ben Rector and Cody Fry with the Minnesota Orchestra, she's traveling around the country collaborating with the likes of Hilary Hahn, Olga Kern, Smokey Robinson, Roseanne Cash, Sting and The Dirty Projectors. This summer alone saw her lead the Chicago Philharmonic backing the emerging and wildly popular indie-jazz sensation Laufey at Lollapalooza right after covering a last-minute rehearsal in San Francisco with singer John Legend. If Sarah knows anything, she knows great music of all genres. 

This month, she returns to Hawaii where she grew up to lead her hometown orchestra before a well-deserved late summer break. We asked her what she'd be listening to while gearing up for a busy 2024-25 season—here's her summer playlist. 

Track One: Johannes Brahms, Liebeslieder-Walzer

While I’ve happily conducted the orchestral version many times, it’s the original that I find myself turning to lately. This charming cycle of miniatures, set to a collection of folk song lyrics and love poems by Georg Friederich Daumer, is a perfect easy listen when I want a few moments of beauty. I love the simplicity of the combination of piano and voices, as well as how each waltz perfectly captures the atmosphere of the text. Notable for me—the rhythmic and harmonic ambiguity of Die Grüne Hopfenranke. I’m partial to the version with Brigitte Fassbaender and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau—a classic recording, in my book.

Track Two: Takashi Yoshimatsu, Ode to Birds and Rainbow

I find myself drawn to music that creates its own unique world, and thus is able to draw me out of mine; when we talk about the transformative power of music, for me it’s all about entering a realm that helps me see reality anew. Yoshimatsu is a master world-creator, and both the intimacy and the vibrant colors and the blooming gorgeousness of this work are a constant go-to when I’m seeking a respite from everyday life. A sense of wonder does the soul good!

Track Three: Randy Newman, When She Loved Me

Randy Newman is the ultimate songsmith, and as I do a great deal of creative work for Disney Concerts, he’s constantly on my professional playlist. But this one is special. Distilled down, it’s ostensibly a doll’s lament about becoming obsolete as her person grows older. But taken more broadly, it puts word and emotion to the bittersweet passage of time, and the heartache of loves lost. If you want a good cry, this is your song; bonus points: watch the original version from Toy Story 2.

Track Four: Dhafer Youssef, "Invicium Divinum" Elegy for My Mother

Dhafer Youssef, Birds Requiem

A dear friend introduced me to Dhafer Youssef many years ago, and it became an entry point into the captivating world of cross-cultural jazz, particularly the combination of Middle Eastern artists with traditional Western jazz. In this album, oud player and singer Youssef weaves across genres and instruments in a loosely related set of segments that creates an extraordinary, immersive whole. His oud playing is legendary, but his otherworldly vocals must be heard to be believed—check out the transcendental Khira “Indicium Divinum.”

Track Five: John Williams, Excerpts from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”

I couldn’t have a list of favorites without Williams! Having performed so many of his scores live to film, as well as in the concert hall, it’s a challenge to pick a favorite. Close Encounters is one of the most satisfying to perform because it’s essentially an orchestral tone poem. Starting in an aleatoric sheen, it grows from a Ligeti-esque murmur to an explosion of stardust, before washing into gentle stillness. It builds eventually, of course, to a full-throated expression of the famous five-note theme—Williams in all his glory—before settling into a last iteration twinkled on the celeste. John recorded it a few years back with the Berlin Philharmonic: it’s pure magic.

Track Six: Anzenchitai, "Denen"

I was born in Japan, speak fluent Japanese and am steeped in Japanese culture, so it’s no surprise that some of my most-played songs are Japanese pop. Anzenchitai’s popularity goes back decades, and I remember them from my childhood, particularly this song, which was featured on a Japanese TV drama. A loose translation of the chorus: “Just to go on living/That’s all we ever need to do/I’m here/You’re here too/Everyone is here/And love will always be here”. But even if you don’t understand a word, you’re sure to feel the sunny glow of this perfect bit of upbeat pop goodness.