Sarah Goldfeather is a composer-performer who writes music for her three ensembles, Goldfeather, Cipher, and Exceptet, and was the violinist in the Tony Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Broadway production of Oklahoma! at Circle In The Square Theater. She has performed as a soloist for The NYU International Conference of the Arts in Berlin, the AMEE Festival in Madrid and Valencia, the TEDxMET series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and has been a featured composer-performer for the WildShore Festival in Alaska, The Present Music Festival in Milwaukee, The Johnstone Fund for New Music in Columbus, OH, The Laudie D. Porter Artist Series at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, The Center for New Music in San Francisco, The MATA-Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall, and more. She has additionally performed at The Barclay’s Center, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Alice Tully Hall, The Bang on a Can Marathon, The Park Avenue Armory, and with Courtney Love, Ronnie Spektor, Lizzo, Kimbra, to name a few. Her television performances include the 2019 Tony Awards, the Tonight Show, the Today Show, and Kelly and Ryan.
Sarah Goldfeather is an accomplished violin instructor who obtained her Master’s in Violin from NYU-Steinhardt in 2015 and has over 12 years of teaching experience. In addition to her robust private studio, Sarah is currently a faculty member for the Youth Orchestra of St. Lukes, and has previously been on the faculty of the Brooklyn Waldorf School, NYU-Steinhardt, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and more. Sarah is a seasoned teacher of all ages and abilities who aims to demonstrate how rewarding and fun it is to learn an instrument, and uniquely tailors each lesson to the student’s needs.
Sarah co-runs three music ensembles. She is the bandleader of GOLDFEATHER, an experimental pop band based out of New York City. The whimsical brainchild of Sarah Goldfeather and Mike Tierney, Goldfeather’s music has been described as “a nightmare funhouse-mirror take on Carly Rae Jepson-style upbeat pop [that is] deeply disconcerting and outrageously fun” (National Sawdust Log), “full of light and life” (The Current, Minnesota Public Radio), and “poignant…striking and laudable” (The Deli Magazine). Their fourth studio album, Change, will be released in 2023. Sarah is also the co-founder, artistic director and violinist of Exceptet, a seven-piece new music ensemble that commissions new works from emerging composers. Described as “eclectic” and “quirky” by the New Yorker, Exceptet is also proud to collaborate with composer Katie Balch, who won the prestigious Barlow prize to write a piece for the group in 2022. Sarah is also the co-founder of Cipher, a soprano-violin duo with Justine Aronson.
In addition to performing, Sarah is also a prolific writer of music. Her works include commissions from pianist Timo Andres, ETHEL quartet, a 25-minute song cycle which she premiered with Contemporaneous in 2018-2019, several works for Exceptet and Cipher, and an upcoming work for Warp Trio.
