Sarah Oates was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She started the violin at the age of nine with Louis van der Watt at the Hugo Lambrecht Music Centre in Cape Town. At the age of fourteen Sarah was the winner of the National Huguenot competition as well as the National High School music competition. In 1992 she received a scholarship to study with Yossi Zivoni at the Purcell School of Music in London, and later at the Royal Northern College of Music. Sarah continued her studies with Pinchas Zukerman at the Manhattan School of Music and with Alexander Kerr in Amsterdam. Sarah has performed violin concertos with various orchestras, including Holland Symfonia, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, RNCM Symphony Orchestra, the Cape Town Philharmonic, and the Natal Philharmonic. In 1999 Sarah was invited to the Sante Fe chamber music festival in New Mexico, where she performed and toured with Pinchas Zukerman. In 2002 she was a prizewinner in the Vriendenkrans competition of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. From 2008 until 2012 Sarah was the concertmaster of the Holland Symfonia Orchestra in Amsterdam, and as a member of the Devich Piano Trio Sarah has recorded four CDs with Challenge Records to critical acclaim. Performed at the Festival in 2014.