Sarah Kienle began her viola studies at age seven in her hometown of Kalispell, Montana. After graduating in 2007 from the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts, she received her Bachelor of Music from the Colburn School in Los Angeles, California, in 2011, where she studied with Paul Coletti. In 2013, Kienle received her Master of Music from Indiana University in Bloomington, where she studied with Atar Arad. Kienle was a fellow with the New World Symphony, an orchestral academy in Miami Beach, Florida, for its 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons.

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In 2015, Kienle moved to Dallas, Texas, where she performed as a freelancer with both the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony. She then joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, beginning as Associate Principal Viola in 2017 and assuming the position of acting Principal Viola in 2019.

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Kienle especially enjoys chamber music. At the 2008 Festival Amadeus in Whitefish, Montana, she performed J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 with Coletti as a soloist. She has played at Bravo! Vail, the Colburn Chamber Music Society, the Sanibel Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival, with performances alongside Augustin Hadelich and Anne-Marie McDermott. Kienle spends her summers in Durango, Colorado, hiking and performing at the Music in the Mountains festival.