The Eastern Shore Trio

media release: All Music Appreciation Series events are free and open to the public.

Sahada Buckley, violin

Sahada Buckley is a violinist and interdisciplinary artist whose diverse career has led to many meaningful collaborations. A Fairhope native, Sahada has worked with many notable classical musicians including faculty from the University of California; Los Angeles, Michigan State University, and members of the Pro Arte Quartet. Additionally, she has worked closely with acclaimed composers such as David Ludwig, Michael Ippolito, Laura Schwendinger, and Mason Bates. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sahada was a member of the prestigious graduate string quartet, the Marvin Rabin String Quartet; in Georgia, she won first prize at the University of Georgia Concerto Competition performing Édouard Lalo’s Violin Concerto “Symphonie Espagnole'' in 2018. Sahada has participated in numerous summer music festivals, including the Meadowmount School of Music, BUTI Tanglewood, Green Mountain Music Festival, Montecito Music Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, and Decoda Chamber Music Festival. As a non-classical performer, Sahada has partnered with musicians within the free improvisation community on a national level. In April of 2022, Sahada was invited to perform with her experimental duo, Girls With Hands, at the New York City Electroacoustic Improvisation Summit. Sahada is a graduate from the arts-focused boarding school, Interlochen Arts Academy, and holds dual Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of Georgia in Violin Performance and Music Theory. Recently, Sahada received her Master of Music degree in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a student of Pro Arte Quartet violinist David Perry. Sahada’s principal teachers have included Levon Ambartsumian, Shakhida Azimkhodjaeva, Paul Sonner, and Michael Heald. An avid hiker, she through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2019 with a violin in her backpack.

Kayla Patrick, viola

Kayla Patrick is a violist and active chamber music collaborator in Madison, WI. She earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at The University of Wisconsin-Madison under the guidance of Sally Chisholm and was a member of the Marvin Rabin String Quartet at the Mead Witter School of Music throughout her time there. Additionally, she engages in regular outreach throughout the Midwest, and finds great joy in teaching and performing in a variety of genres. She was a recent finalist in the 2023 University of Wisconsin-Madison Symphony Concerto Competition as well as in the 2021 Mead Witter Viola Competition. 

Kayla received her Bachelor of the Arts degree in Viola Performance under the instruction of Olga Tuzhilkov at Cardinal Stritch University and her subsequent master’s degree and performance diploma in viola performance in the studio of Igor Fedotov at The Chicago College of Performing Arts. She has a distinct passion for chamber music and enjoys the close collaboration and artistic freedom that comes with performing chamber repertoire. Kayla’s favorite dessert is ice cream, a food to which she is mildly allergic (but she eats it anyway).

Trace Johnson, cello

Dr. Trace Johnson is a cellist known for his effortless musicality and fierce commitment to music-making of all styles and genres. He has appeared as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral musician throughout the United States and internationally. Equally at home teaching in concert performances or teaching in the studio, Trace is a devoted and thoughtful communicator who enjoys a varied career in both worlds. Trace has collaborated in concert with eminent artists Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Garrick Olson, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Augustin Hadelich, and Gil Shaham. He is a member of the cello section in the Sarasota Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Trace has also recently appeared on Masterworks programs with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Artosphere Festival Orchestra in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Trace received his Bachelor of Music Performance degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio, and his Master of Music degree from Lynn Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. Trace recently received his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Trace enjoys reading historical fiction, creating/completing lists, and takes great satisfaction from fixing broken household items of all kinds.