ABOUT

Sarah Kaufold is an experienced conductor, singer, and music educator who who advocates for inclusion on the podium, within the choral ensemble, and in the choir folder. As Founding and Artistic Director for Consonare Choral Community, a nonprofit organization created in 2018 to build community through choral music in Connecticut, Sarah directs:  Voices of Concinnity, a professional vocal ensemble of singers from diverse backgrounds; Choir Matrix, a community choir for upper voices; and Consonare Community Choir, a large drop-in choir to get the whole community singing. This organization has collaborated with many arts entities and performed around the state.  Serving also as Executive Director, Sarah has secured six grants for the organization in the last two years as well as received two state grants as an individual artist.

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With extensive choral conducting and leadership experience, Sarah has directed choirs for singers of all ages, range of abilities, and in several settings, which include: church choral programs for children and adults since 2000; teaching middle and high school choral and general music classes in California; conducting collegiate choirs as a grad student and adjunct faculty; directing adult community choral programs and a professional vocal ensemble in Connecticut.  Outside of choral leadership, she has conducted operas for Hartford Opera Theater, served as grad assistant for a music history and conducting courses at UConn, and taught graduate choral literature at The Hartt School. Her inclusive approach to determining standing positions in the choral setting has earned invitations as a consultant to help other choirs improve choral sound through standing order.

 

Sarah holds a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from University of Connecticut with extensive graduate study in choral conducting from California State University, Los Angeles.  She has studied conducting under Iris Levine, Donald Brinegar, and James Spillane, as well as conducting masterclasses with Charles Bruffy, Simon Carrington, Craig Hella Johnson, and Dennis Keene. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California Polytechnic University, Pomona where she also began her studies as a music educator. 

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A recipient of the 2020 CT Artist Respond Grant from the CT Office of the Arts for the Songs of Comfort project and the 2021 CT Artist Respond Grant for the Choral Composer Amplify Project, which strives to increase equity and access for emerging choral composers.  Her philosophy on inclusive practices within the choral setting was presented at the Diverse Pathways to the Podium conference lead by Girls Who Conduct in 2021.  Her first article. "Choral Singing on the Brink of Delta" was published through New Music Box.  Her latest article is a resource to aid in the programming of choral music by women composers.

 

She has sung professionally throughout the Los Angeles and New England area and currently sings with the following professional chamber choirs: Voices of Concinnity, Collegium Ancora, and Alchemy.  After over two years parenting three teenagers during a pandemic, she still loves photography, traveling, and hiking with her family.