Sarah Kirkland Snider
Recently deemed “a rising star on the American compositional scene” (The Wall Street Journal), “one of the decade’s more gifted, up-and-coming modern classical composers” (Pitchfork), and “an important representative of 21st century trends in composition” (New York Classical Review), composer Sarah Kirkland Snider writes music of direct expression and dramatic narrative that has been hailed as “rapturous” (The New York Times), “groundbreaking” (The Boston Globe), and “ravishingly beautiful” (NPR). With an attention to detail that is “as intricate and exquisite as a spider’s web” (BBC Music Magazine), Snider’s music organically synthesizes a diversity of influences to render a nuanced command of immersive storytelling. In a 2022 profile of her music, Gramophone Magazine writes: “Expressive, evocative, and personal, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s music explores emotional landscapes through vivid, compelling narratives [with] a unique sound world that she has made identifiably her own – familiar, yet at the same time strange and unsettling.” Gothamist NYC writes: “Sarah Kirkland Snider is among the most impressive younger composers in the New York new-music scene. Her music can sound ageless and contemporary at once, with an emotional impact that's direct and immediate."
One of the “Top 35 Female Composers in Classical Music” (The Washington Post), Snider’s works have been commissioned and/or performed by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, and the Birmingham Royal Ballet; soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Will Liverman, Deutsche Grammophon for mezzo Emily D’Angelo, percussionist Colin Currie, and vocalist Shara Nova; the Emerson String Quartet, eighth blackbird, A Far Cry, The Knights, and Roomful of Teeth, among many others. Her music has been heard in concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Sadler’s Wells, the Sydney Opera House, and Wigmore Hall; and programmed at festivals including Aspen, BAM NextWave, Bang On a Can, Big Ears, Cabrillo, Colorado, Cross-linx, Ecstatic, Hradec Králové Music Forum, Koorbiënnale, London Handel, Podium, Ravinia, and Sundance.
The 22/23 season will feature world premieres of works for soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Will Liverman; the Decoda Ensemble at Carnegie Hall; and a string quartet for the Emerson String Quartet. The legendary string quartet’s final commission, the Emerson will premiere Snider's work at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in May, as part of their farewell tour. Snider is also at work on an opera about 12th century visionary/polymath St. Hildegard von Bingen, on a libretto Snider is writing herself. Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, the opera has received two grants from Opera America, will be workshopped by the Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts Atelier program in 2023, and will premiere at Prototype Festival in 2025. Other upcoming projects include a piano concerto; a large multimedia orchestral work; and works for choir, chamber ensembles, and soloists.
Recent works include Forward Into Light, an orchestral commission for the New York Philharmonic inspired by the American women’s suffrage movement (“A gem…fragile and ferocious…lush, inviting” – The New York Times); the widely-acclaimed Mass for the Endangered, a Trinity Wall Street-commissioned 45’ work for SATB choir and ensemble; The Blue Hour, a collaborative song cycle for Shara Nova and A Far Cry string orchestra on poetry by Carolyn Forché; You Must Feel with Certainty, a commission from the Guggenheim Museum for VOX vocal ensemble to celebrate its Hilma af Klint retrospective; and new songs commissioned by Deutsche Grammophon for 'enargeia,' the 2022 Juno Award-winning Classical Album of the Year by mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo. In 2018, Embrace, her 45’ orchestral ballet with British choreographer George Williamson, commissioned by the Birmingham Royal Ballet, premiered at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Named Best Ballet Premiere of 2018 by Dance Europe, Classical Source wrote of the music: “a tremendous commission: Snider creates a thrilling sound world, rich and satisfying…a superb score.”
