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Sara’s work has been recognized by
fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, the Composers Conference at
Wellesley College, the MacDowell Colony, the Millay Colony for the
Arts (Jean & Louis Dreyfus Foundation Endowed Fellowship), the
Corporation of Yaddo, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and
the June in Buffalo Composition Seminar. Other awards include ASCAP
Standard Awards and production assistance grants from the Vermont
Community Foundation Arts Endowment Fund and the American Composers
Forum – New England Chapter. She was a finalist for the National
Symphony Orchestra/John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Vermont Composer Commission. She received an Opportunity – Artist
Development Grant from the Vermont Arts Council to support the
completion of the piano/vocal score of her first opera, “Coriander
and a Penny’s Worth of Lonesome” with librettist Ronald Falzone. In
2007, she was Commissioned by Northsong (Anne Hamilton, Director) to
compose a new choral work for SATB Chorus, B-flat clarinet and
piano, based on the Old Testament story of “Ruth.” This commission
is funded by the Vermont Community Foundation. Sara’s first
orchestral work, “Rush Patrick’s Vision” was recently performed
around the state as part of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s 2007
“Made in Vermont” Tour. Other current projects include new works for
the Cygnus Ensemble (New York, NY), Social Band (Burlington) and the
Empyrean Ensemble (Davis, California).
Sara’s music has been commissioned and performed by the Hungarian
Chamber Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Dinosaur
Annex Music Ensemble, the Lydian String Quartet, Vermont
Contemporary Music Ensemble, Susan Davenny Wyner (conductor), David
Hoose (conductor), Jon Garrison (tenor), the Master Singers, the
Auros Group for New Music, Village Harmony, St. Paul’s Episcopal
Cathedral (Burlington, VT), Social Band, Village Harmony, and the
Composers Conference at Wellesley College, among others. Her music
has been broadcast over Vermont and Wisconsin Public Radio.
Sara’s catalogue of works includes
music for voice and piano, chamber music for mixed ensembles from
three to ten players and choral music and larger-scale compositions
for voice and chamber ensemble such as Biblical Sonnets for baritone
and 14 instruments. Recent works include Supernatural Songs, a song
cycle of 12 poems by William Butler Yeats for tenor, three sopranos
and 13 instruments; a setting of Edward Lear’s poem “The
Quangle-Wangle’s Hat”; the Great “O” Antiphons” for Advent; and
“After the Comet Hyakutake,” a SSA choral work based on poetry by
April Naoko Heck.
Sara has a State of Vermont Educators license in music. Since 2001,
she has served as Music Teacher for Newport Town School
(instrumental, choral and general music) and Lowell Graded School
(choral and general music). She began working at Holland Elementary
School in 2006. In addition to giving private lessons in piano and
composition, Sara is a composer mentor for the Vermont MIDI Project
and was 2007 Composer-in-Residence for the Green Mountain Suzuki
Institute in Rochester, Vermont.
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