Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
2027 COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE
SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER
LunART is thrilled to welcome award-winning composer Sarah Kirkland Snider as our 2027 Composer-in-Residence. Her music will be featured at the LunART Festival 2027 Gala Concerts, and she will lead the 2027 Composers' Hub, mentoring emerging composers through masterclasses, workshops, private lessons, and lectures.
Photo Credit: Anja Schutz
A Composer Who Expands the Conversation
Sarah Kirkland Snider’s music embodies the bold, imaginative artistry LunART champions. Her work expands the possibilities of contemporary music through powerful storytelling and a deeply personal artistic voice. As our 2027 Composer-in-Residence, Sarah reflects LunART’s commitment to expanding the canon, amplifying women’s voices, and creating meaningful opportunities for artists to connect, create, and shape the future of music.
Sarah at LunART Festival 2027
COMPOSER
Her works will be featured in the 2027 Gala Concerts.
MENTOR
She will lead the Composers' Hub and work directly with emerging composers.
COLLABORATOR
Sarah will connect and create alongside LunART artists and composers, fostering meaningful artistic exchange.
Photo Credit: Drew Tommons
"My strengths are really my interests. I'm very interested in melody and harmony, atmosphere, emotion and storytelling. I'm interested in communication and emotional immediacy."
Bio
Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider writes music of direct expression and vivid narrative, hailed as “rapturous” (The New York Times), “groundbreaking” (The Boston Globe), and “ravishingly beautiful” (NPR). Recently named one of the “Top 35 Female Composers in Classical Music” by The Washington Post, Snider’s works have been commissioned and performed by the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Conspirare, Cappella Amsterdam, eighth blackbird, Roomful of Teeth, Renée Fleming, Colin Currie, and Emily D’Angelo, among many others.
Her first opera, Hildegard (for which she wrote the libretto), recently premiered with LA Opera, earning a New York Times Critic’s Pick and the 2026 Best New Opera Award from the Music Critics Association of North America. Winner of the Detroit Symphony Lebenbom Award, her recent works include Forward Into Light for the New York Philharmonic, Drink the Wild Ayre for the Emerson String Quartet, and Mass for the Endangered, programmed by dozens of choirs globally.
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
Snider’s five full-length LPs—co-released on Nonesuch Records and/or New Amsterdam Records—have earned critical acclaim from The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, New Yorker, NPR, Pitchfork, Gramophone, The Guardian, and BBC Music Magazine. In 2026, her orchestral album Forward Into Light was shortlisted for the Opus Klassik Award in New Classical. A founding Co-Artistic Director of the non-profit New Amsterdam Records, Snider holds an M.M. and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. Her music is published by G. Schirmer.