Sarah Kirkland Snider

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider writes music of direct expression and vivid narrative that has been hailed as “rapturous” (The New York Times), “groundbreaking” (The Boston Globe), and “poignant, deeply personal” (The New Yorker). Recently named one of the “Top 35 Female Composers in Classical Music” by The Washington Post, Snider’s works have been commissioned and/or performed by the New York Philharmonic; San Francisco Symphony; National Symphony Orchestra; Emerson String Quartet; soprano Renée Fleming and tenor Will Liverman; the Birmingham Royal Ballet; Deutsche Grammophon for mezzo Emily D’Angelo; Carnegie Hall for Decoda Ensemble; percussionist Colin Currie; eighth blackbird; and Roomful of Teeth, among many others. She is currently at work on an opera about 12th c. composer/visionary/polymath Hildegard von Bingen, commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, with two grants from Opera America. Since the widely-acclaimed 2020 release of her album 'Mass for the Endangered' with Gallicantus on Nonesuch/New Amsterdam Records, her Mass has been performed over forty times by choirs the world over. Her other critically-acclaimed albums include 'Penelope' (2010) and 'Unremembered' (2015), two genre-defying LP song cycles released by New Amsterdam Records, and 'The Blue Hour' (2022), a collaborative song cycle for vocalist Shara Nova with A Far Cry string orchestra, which was named one of the Top Ten Albums in all genres by NPR. A founding Co-Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based non-profit New Amsterdam Records, Snider has an M.M. and Artist’s Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. Her music is published by G. Schirmer.