Sarah Quartel: A Voice for Connection in the Global Choral Community
Composer Sarah Quartel is one of Canada’s most internationally celebrated and widely performed living choral composers. With more than 100 works published exclusively by Oxford University Press, her music has resonated with choirs and audiences across the world, from Carnegie Hall in New York to Canterbury Cathedral in the UK and Helsinki’s renowned Church of the Rock.
Raised as a chorister herself, Sarah understands first-hand the transformative relationships that can be forged through singing in community. This grounding shapes her signature style—fresh, exciting, and chorister-centred—a way of writing that connects singer to singer, ensemble to conductor, and performer to audience. Her works have been performed and recorded by leading ensembles including Chanticleer, London Voices, Rajaton, The Swingles, The Gesualdo Six, New York Polyphony, The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, and the global mega-choir Stay at Home Choir.
Sarah’s impact extends far beyond the concert stage. She has served as Composer-in-Residence for ensembles such as Vox Anima (London), National Concerts (New York City), the Singing Girls of Texas (Fort Worth), and the Cathedral of St. John (Albuquerque). She is in high demand as a commissioned composer, having created new works for organisations including the Orchestre de Paris, National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, American Choral Directors Association, National Children’s Chorus of the USA, Hamilton Children’s Choir, and New Dublin Voices.
Collaboration lies at the heart of Sarah’s artistry. Recent highlights include Iesous ahatonnia’, a groundbreaking new setting of “The Huron Carol” that premiered in 2024. Developed with Wendat poet Andrée Levesque Sioui and ethnomusicologist Dr. Jeanette Gallant, the piece represents a bold step toward decolonising and reimagining a Canadian cultural icon. Looking ahead, Sarah’s first choral musical, Be like the Bird, will receive its world premiere in Paris in 2025 with the Chœur d’Enfants de l’Orchestre de Paris.
A cornerstone of Sarah’s career has been her close relationship with Oxford University Press (OUP). With her catalogue of over 100 titles published exclusively through OUP, she has contributed significantly to their choral library. In addition to her own works, Sarah has edited landmark collections such as Breath of Song: 10 Concert Works by Women Composers, and served as a mentor to early-career composers and composition students. Her partnership with OUP reflects her deep commitment not only to creating exceptional music but also to supporting the wider choral publishing and composing community.
Beyond her compositional achievements, Sarah is also a mentor, educator, and advocate for the choral arts. She has directed youth and adult choirs, taught hundreds of children in schools across Canada, and continues to champion choral community, music education, and supporting fellow composers—values that underpin everything she does.
In May 2024, Sarah made history in Oxford, UK, when her arrangement of How Can I Keep from Singing? was chosen for the city’s traditional 500-year-old May Morning celebrations. Performed by the Choir of Magdalen College from the top of Magdalen Tower at 6am, it marked the first time a female composer’s work had been featured in this historic event.
Now living in London, Ontario, Sarah continues to enrich the global choral world as a clinician, visiting composer, and guest conductor, bringing her music and her passion for community singing to stages and classrooms worldwide.
See the full range of Sarah’s sheet music offered by Ackerman Music here
