Sarah Wald

Sarah Wald was born in Chicago. She attended Columbia University in New York for her bachelor’s degree in music. Sarah then studied with Conrad Susa and David Garner at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for her master’s degree in composition. For her master’s thesis, she composed and produced Elegy for a Lady: a Music Drama in One Act. She recently completed her dissertation at UC Davis under Kurt Rohde’s supervision.

Over the past several years, Sarah’s music has been featured at various festivals, including the nief-norf Summer Music Festival, the Brevard Music Center, the TALIS Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the SPLICE Institute, the Sofia Symphonic Summit, and the Composers Conference. Her work has been featured on radio stations such as WFMT (Relevant Tones), CJSR, and The EDME Radio Hour.

Sarah has received several honors, awards, and commissions. She graduated from Columbia magna cum laude and also received Columbia’s Rapaport Prize in 2012. In 2015, she was awarded professional development grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. As a graduate student at UC Davis, Sarah was awarded a Graduate Scholars Fellowship for her first year. Sarah has also received commissions from Access Contemporary Music, Vox Musica, the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, and other ensembles. Over the past several years, she has been a selected composer in calls for scores from North/South Consonance (2018), the Sewanee Summer Music Festival (2020), the Sound of Silent Film Festival (2020), and the EDME New Music Festival (2022).

During the 2021–2022 season, Sarah was a Resident Artist with the concert platform Sparrow Live. She currently teaches music theory and composition at Sacramento State.