Ferrum, VA, April 28, 2026 — Senior Sarah Gallagher from Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, will present “Das ist das Ende,” her final recital before graduating with a major in Music Performance, on April 30 at 5 p.m. The performance in Ferrum College’s Sale Theatre is free and open to the public.
Gallagher has prepared an eclectic program of voice, piano, and percussion performance drawn from art song, musical theatre, Baroque melodies, classic rock, and original composition. She will be accompanied by Program Coordinator of Music and Theatre Emily Blankenship-Tucker.
During her college years, Gallagher has performed in Ferrum’s jazz band, concert band, marching band, handbell choir, and choir. In the Bluegrass Brass marching band, she was a section leader for two seasons and a drum major for one season.
She played in the pit orchestra for the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre’s spring musicals of the past three years: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Mary Poppins, and The Music Man. She also had a role acting and singing in the ensemble cast of Faith of Our Fathers, a new play celebrating the centenary of Schoolfield Hall at Homecoming in October 2025.
Blankenship-Tucker said, “It has been a privilege to witness Sarah’s growth and transformation as she has shared her many musical gifts with the Ferrum College community during her studies. Her final recital is a beautiful tribute to her collegiate experience as she steps forth into her next chapter.” At the Academic Awards Ceremony on April 17, Gallagher received the Outstanding Student in Music Award for 2025-26.
During the summer, Gallagher works with students from grades six to twelve in the Jim Thorpe Area High School’s Marching Band in Pennsylvania. She says that, after starting as a volunteer right after high school with an interest in teaching, “I have grown and advanced in this position to become part of the staff as a mallet tech and now an assistant band director. This position has honed in on my own teaching skills and style.”
At Ferrum College, Gallagher has also contributed writing, photography, and art to Chrysalis Literary and Arts Magazine each semester since spring 2024, and she has served on the magazine staff. In the Spring 2026 issue released last week, she won second prize for art with a photograph of Shining Star, her multicolored crocheted piece with a star design. The magazine also published her poems “Angry” and “Past Self” in this issue, and several kinds of photographs that she submitted. She previously won first place for art in the Fall 2024 issue with a photograph of a crocheted dragon.
Gallagher will graduate on May 2 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance and a minor in Educational Studies. She said, “I am truly thankful for all of the learning opportunities Ferrum has granted me.”
The recital on April 30 is in Sale Theatre on the upper floor of Schoolfield Hall at Ferrum College. An elevator is available from the ground-floor entrance on the side of the building facing the center of campus.
Photographs in Sale Theatre and in marching band provided by Sarah Gallagher.
Photograph of the cast of Faith of Our Fathers by Dr. Bob Pohlad, with Gallagher in the center in a long skirt.
The Ferrum College photograph shows Provost Richard Grant, Assistant Professors Rebecca Crocker and Emily Blankenship-Tucker, and President Mirta Martin presenting the Outstanding Student in Music award to Sarah Gallagher.
