Sarah Rimkus is an award-winning American composer of choral, vocal and chamber works.
She brings a wide range of influences to her music, from ars antiqua and ars nova polyphony to Balkan and Scandinavian folk traditions and many other sources. Her work often explores issues such as communication, belonging, and relationship to the environment through use musical layering and contradiction. Her music has been described as “challenging yet attractive” and “always powerful and well-judged,” with a language that “ranges from uncluttered lyrical poignancy to denser textures that suggest a holy clamor.”
Her choral and vocal works have been commissioned and performed extensively across the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere by ensembles including The Crossing, The Esoterics, Chor Leoni, and The Gesualdo Six. Her works have been professionally recorded by ensembles on both sides of the Atlantic, featured on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM, and published by GIA Publications, Walton Music, and See-a-dot Publications. Much of her inspiration in her choral works come from her inventive text choices, from scientific writing to multi-lingual translations of sacred texts and many other sources. She has also written instrumental works for performers and organizations including The Ligeti Quartet, Cheltenham Music Festival, Red Note Ensemble, and organist Roger Williams MBE. She has been internationally recognized through awards such as the ASCAP Morton Gould Award, the ASCAP Foundation Leonard Bernstein award, and a number of others.
Dr. Rimkus is also passionate about teaching composition and supporting her students and fellow composers. She is currently a visiting assistant professor of music theory and composition at Sewanee, and was recently a visiting assistant professor and applied instructor at Michigan Technological University, teaching courses ranging from composition to music appreciation. She has also served in ensemble leadership roles, including as general manager of the University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir and artistic director of Spectrum, the University of Aberdeen’s new music ensemble. During her time with Spectrum, she coached world premieres of chamber works by students ranging from fellow PhD candidates to third year undergraduates receiving public performances for the first time.
She completed her PhD in music composition at the University of Aberdeen with Phillip Cooke and Paul Mealor in 2019, after completing her MM in composition with distinction at the University of Aberdeen in 2015. She earned her BM in composition magna cum laude in 2013 at the University of Southern California, where she developed her love of working with text and the voice while studying with Morten Lauridsen and Stephen Hartke.
She was born in Washington, DC in 1990 and moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1998. She is currently based in Houghton, MI where she lives with her husband, male composer Thomas LaVoy, their daughter Marin, their cats Worf and Kira, and a thriving sourdough starter named Toby.