Composer Sarah Quartel is one of Canada’s most internationally celebrated and widely performed living choral composers. Her music is programmed globally, and her commissions have premiered in spaces such as Carnegie Hall, Canterbury Cathedral, Cité de la Musique Paris, and the famed Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki. Raised as a choral singer herself, Sarah is inspired by the life-changing relationships that can occur in group singing. Known for her fresh, exciting, and chorister-centred approach to music making, Sarah writes in a way that connects singer to singer, ensemble to conductor, and performer to audience.

Sarah is in high demand as a commissioned composer and values the partnerships built with conductors, educators, and singers as they bring a new work to life together. She has been commissioned by groups including the Orchestre de Paris, The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, the American Choral Directors Association, The National Children’s Chorus of the USA, Hamilton Children’s Choir, and New Dublin Voices. She has served as Composer-in-Residence for Vox Anima (London), National Concerts (New York City), Singing Girls of Texas (Fort Worth), and The Cathedral of St. John (Albuquerque). Sarah’s music is performed by a wide variety of ensembles ranging from professional groups to community and school choirs. Notable performances and recordings include those by VOCES8, Chanticleer, London Voices, Rajaton, The Swingles, The Gesualdo Six, New York Polyphony, The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, and the global mega-choir the Stay at Home Choir.

Sarah is proud of her collaborations with exceptional artists that have fuelled exciting new works. Her arrangement of Iesous ahatonnia’ was created in partnership with Wendat poet Andrée Levesque Sioui and ethnomusicologist Dr. Jeanette Gallant. This ground breaking score premiered at Podium 2024 and aims to decolonize and Indigenize the Canadian icon “The Huron Carol”. Her 60-minute staged choral work Be Like the Bird with story by Kate Colebrook, premiered in Paris by Chœur d’Enfants de l’Orchestre de Paris. This innovative choral work brings together music, movement, and visual storytelling to follow a bird’s journey through a changing world. It will be published in 2027. Sarah is deeply thankful for her relationship with Oxford University Press (OUP), where her 100+ titles are exclusively published. Sarah has held many roles in various music communities internationally including editor for the OUP publication Breath of Song: 10 concert works by women composers, editor and mentor to early career composers and composition students, artistic director of youth and adult choirs, and music educator to hundreds of children in schools across Canada. She values choral community, exceptional music education for all learners, and supporting fellow composers. Sarah continues to work as a clinician and guest composer at music education and choral events at home and abroad.