Her last rites were performed in Mumbai on September 13th, in accordance with Hindu tradition. Sarah was born on February 19th, 1986 in Uijeongbu-si, Gyeonggi Province, Korea and adopted by her parents, Marcha Cave and Peter Cave 11 weeks later.

From a very young age, Sarah felt a profound affinity with the violin, and for the myriad ways music could express her inner self, and touch other peoples’ lives. Sarah saw her violin as an instrument of connection, a way to move energy from one soul to another. Music, Sarah believed, was neither in the score nor in the violin – it was in the player herself, and in the player’s capacity to touch someone else through the tool of an instrument. Throughout her life Sarah used her music to communicate, to comfort, to heal, to inspire, to bless, to empower, and to bring solace. Sarah’s violin carried her from Connecticut to Chicago to New York to Utah to the Gulf of Mexico, to Canada, and ultimately to India, where she lived for the majority of the last decade. At her death, Sarah was surrounded by over 25 members of her Mumbai community, all of whom loved her deeply and were by her side to the very last breath. 

Sarah was raised in Naugatuck, Connecticut. She attended Western Elementary School and Hillside Middle School. From a young age, Sarah’s love for music and the arts was nurtured by dedicated teachers. She began violin lessons with Susan Brown at the age of three, and her longtime art teacher, Mrs. Shapiro, instilled in her a deep appreciation for visual art—an influence that remained with her throughout her life.

Sarah grew up attending Hillside Covenant Church, where she built lasting friendships and memories, particularly through youth group and summer camp, Camp Squanto. She shared her love of music early on, with some of her first violin performances given for her Hillside community.

Sarah went on to attend Westover, an all girls high school in Middlebury, CT, and there formed a large community of lifelong sisters. While at Westover, Sarah traveled weekly into New York City to study in Manhattan School of Music’s prestigious pre-college program. On campus, Sarah studied music with Bob Havery, Westover’s longtime musical director. She also studied visual art, served as First Head of the Glee Club, and was a passionate leader of the school’s spirit team (Overs Forever!).

Sarah attended North Park University in Chicago, where she majored in music and had the opportunity to play with famed violinist Midori, a visiting Artist in Residency. While in college, Sarah earned a position as the youngest member in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a tremendous honor. She also taught music at a variety of magnet high schools in the city. Sarah’s capacity to form profound friendships wherever she went continued in North Park, and she remained close with many of her classmates throughout her life. It was in Chicago that Sarah first met her professor and academic advisor, Tom Zelle, who soon became her beloved lifelong friend. A few years later, on Tom’s advice, Sarah continued her violin training with Rony Rogoff who, like Tom, also became a treasured mentor and loving friend. 

Sarah had a worldly spirit, traveling extensively throughout her life and making connections everywhere she went. During college, she studied abroad in Italy, and in 2009 Sarah played violin in a quartet on a cruise ship that toured around the Gulf of Mexico and Central America.  In September 2010, Sarah moved to New York City, and in summer 2013 she moved to Salt Lake City to study luthiery at the Violin Making School of America. In adulthood, she also made trips to France, England, Canada, Peru, Turkey, Bali, and more. For Sarah, home was not the place you originate from, but rather, home was a sense of belonging that you can build anywhere, amongst the people you encounter and connect with. 

Of her many global destinations, Korea remained the country young Sarah was most intrigued by. In September 2011, Sarah traveled to Seoul to visit the adoption agency that cared for her in her earliest months. The trip to Seoul was transformative for Sarah, and she returned to the US bringing many newfound Korean customs, and a richer sense of her roots. In winter 2012, Sarah enrolled in a sculpture course with Rhoda Sherbell at The Art Students League of New York, and created a clay rendering of her birth mother’s head, titled “Uhm-ma,” or “Mother” in Korean. Throughout her life, Sarah continued to explore the complexities around her relationship with her birth mother through her art, especially her music. In 2018, Sarah composed and performed her first original show, “Home En Route,” a musical journey celebrating her roots. Sarah returned to Korea multiple times through the International Korean Adoptee Association, forming lifelong friendships with fellow adoptees and finding her own affinity in the country and culture of her birth. 

By far, the country Sarah found the most resonance in her life was India. Sarah first traveled to India in 2010, moving to Bangalore to teach music and conduct the chamber orchestra at the Bangalore School of Music for six months.  In 2015, Sarah enrolled in a three week course on Eastern music held at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada. There, she studied with Indian musician Pandit Dhruba Ghosh, a master sarangi player of the Hindustani Classical tradition. Sarah felt a profound calling to continue learning from him: she promptly moved back to India, and studied with Dhruba Ghosh until his death in 2017. For the last nine years, Sarah spent her time primarily in India, teaching and collaborating with a thriving community of artists, musicians, and performers. Sarah worked with renowned dancer, choreographer, and Feldenkrais practitioner, Michel Casanovas, co-teaching workshops in Movement and Resonance. After teaching at an International School in Kodaikanal, Sarah returned to Mumbai to teach at Ascend International School. Following this, she taught an original program of resilience through music at an all girls orphanage. In more recent years, Sarah began to practice Sound Healing through her own method, Sound Bar, using the intuitive power of music to promote wellness for her clients. Sarah was also in the midst of a Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy course, which she hoped to integrate into her healing practices.

While living in India Sarah returned to the US regularly, to visit her friends and mentors, and to care for her dear mom, Marcha, who passed away in October 2023. Sarah was a devoted caretaker of her mother in her final years, spending long periods of time in Los Angeles. 

Wherever she traveled and wherever she lived, Sarah had a tremendous capacity to create communities that felt more like families than mere friendships. Her laugh was contagious, her humor bold, her voice bright. Sarah excelled at a myriad of talents, from salsa dancing to singing to finding small ways of showing somebody she loved them. In her final years, she annually spent her birthday volunteering at a variety of NGOs in Mumbai focused on the wellbeing of children, bringing her boundless warmth and love to children facing uncertain futures. Sarah was unapologetic in her commitment to emotional honesty. She couldn’t small-talk; rather, she insisted that conversations dig into the gristle of life’s most profound philosophical questions concerning truth, beauty, eternity. Continually she revisited questions of what music meant to her, what kinship meant to her, what love meant to her. She spent the final weeks of her life pouring herself into writing her latest project, a solo show titled “Song of Belonging,” in collaboration with her dear friend, the theatre creator Kallirroi Tziafeta. “Song of Belonging” is an exploration of grief and healing, propelled by the passing of her adoptive mother.  As ever, it wasn’t enough for Sarah to learn lessons about herself merely for herself – she wanted to take those lessons and use them to inspire others. A teacher, a healer, an artist till the very end, Sarah will be profoundly missed by all who knew her.

Sarah is survived by her uncles Charles (Pam) Winburn, and Charles (Penny) Cave, as well as her aunts Cheryl (Frank ) Belletti, Doreen (Greg) Moler, and Ellen Vanaman, godmother Nancy (Don) Goudreu and many cousins. She was predeceased by her mother, Marcha Cave, her father, Peter Cave, grandparents Charles Winburn & Marjorie Winburn (Cox), grandparents Charles & Shirley Cave and her aunt Dawn. While we mourn Sarah’s death, her spirit lives on in the innumerable friends, teachers, and students who loved her across the world, from West to East: her childhood friendships, her Westover sisterhood, her many fellow musicians, her community of Korean adoptees, her cherished circle of close friends and artists in Mumbai, among countless others.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Sarah’s name may be made to: 

Westover School with designation to Financial Aid or Arts and Athletics, 1237 Whittemore Road, Middlebury, CT 06762 or online at https://www.westoverschool.org/giving  or to Disabled Hikers online at https://www.disabledhikers.com.