Songs inspired by the poems of Holub - first track available now.
Film score for UK horror directed by Romola Garai - selected for Sundance 2020. In UK cinemas from 28 Jan 2022.
New work for two voices, string quartet and electronics - premiere in Aldeburgh Festival, 2023.
New electroacoustic chamber opera - opening Aldeburgh Festival June 2023.
Sarah draws on her lifelong interest in European folksong, cybernetics and esoteric sound culture. These inspire her progressive and strikingly original music for film, theatre and the live music stage.
Her work reflects an eclectic musical background. A classically-trained composer who specialised in baroque and renaissance music, Sarah cut her teeth performing on the UK folk scene. Her desire to get inside notes and finely manipulate sound led her to study electroacoustic engineering, then robotics, alongside music – fields that continue to inform her unique compositional style.
Sarah composes for film and theatre. Her score for Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape (directed by Richard Jones) featured at The Old Vic, London, and Park Avenue Armory, New York. Her film score for Romola Garai’s horror Amulet premiered at Sundance 2020.
She’s also in demand as a live performer and extemporiser – particularly known for her skills on recorder, theremin and keyboard, her robotic, musical inventions and advanced coding skills in Max. Based in London, she tours widely and has been seen at The Royal Festival Hall, Union Chapel, Arnolfini, LSO St Luke’s, Star and Shadow, BBC Halls Swansea and Supersonic UK, Prima Vista, Estonia, National Sawdust, Brooklyn, and many other festivals and venues. She’s also widely known for her work exploring the haunting psychological effects of infrasound in music.
She’s been a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers (2018) and an Ivor Novello Award 2021 (category: Visionary Award).
Electroacoustic chamber opera on the life and death of Charles Byrne – opening Aldeburgh Festival June 2022. Supported by Britten Pears Arts and a Jerwood Opera Writing Fellowship.
A song cycle celebrating wind, tide and the UK’s elemental borders – coming 2022.
Music for this UK horror film, directed by Romola Garai. At Sundance 2020, now on release.
Composition and sound design for this 1920s play exploring alienation and the shock of modernity. At The Old Vic, London, and The Armory, New York. Dir. Richard Jones.
A musical automaton for Barrow-in-Furness, built from the tools of the town’s former shipyard. Coming summer 2021 (Covid permitting).
Recording a new song-cycle inspired by the poems of Miroslav Holub. Released track by track, spring and summer 2021.
A documentary on our enduring and sometimes deathly fascination with echoes, for BBC Radio 4.
A short biography of composer , inventor and Radiophonic Workshop co-founder Daphne Oram, for the reprint of her treatise on sound.
Composition and sound design for the first official stage production of cult sci-fi series, adapted by Anne Washburn. Arnolfini and West End, London, dir. Richard Jones.
A performance and film exploring a little known dance from the early 19th century, in which women working in cotton mills mimicked factory machines. With Caroline Radcliffe and Jon Harrison.
A new album and UK tour, spring 2019. Featuring vocalist Sarah Gabriel and percussionist Stephen Hiscock.
Workshopping a new play with Fabula, London – details tbc.
A composition and live performance of a new work for live vocals and Oramics – using the mini Oramics machine built by Tom Riichards from Oram’s original notes and drawings.
