Dr. Sarah Curzi is a composer, video artist, and higher education blogger at Cafe PhD (cafephd.com).
Her experimental vocal recording of “Soliloquy” will be released on an upcoming album by Petrichor Records in early spring of 2021, with vocal performance by the composer.
Artist Bio
Composer and filmmaker Sarah Curzi combines music, electronics, sound-processing, actors, staging, video, nature sounds, and original prose and poetry. She is particularly interested in expanding possibilities for vocal writing.
Since moving to North Carolina, she has written and arranged music for readings with yMusic, yMusic and Ben Folds, Deviant Septet, pianist Kirill Gerstein, JACK quartet, New York Polyphony, and F Plus. Most recently, her work was performed by Mivos Quartet in New York City.
While studying in Chicago, she wrote music for a main-stage adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale” at the Ethel M. Barber Theater, and scored the documentary “Gunshot Valley” by filmmaker Thomas Javier Castillo. She has participated in festivals such as the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, New York City’s Composers NOW, and the Walden School’s Creative Musician’s Retreat, and was a two-time finalist of the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. In New York, she created a string trio commissioned by Frank Hentschker and the Martin E. Segall Theater, the Cervantes Institute, the Consulate of Spain in New York, and Fundacion Autor. Dr. Curzi’s work celebrated both the music of Spain and the publication of a new anthology edited by Hentschker, “New Plays from Spain: Eight Plays by Seven Authors.”
Sarah has studied with Aaron Travers, Hans Thomalla, Lee Hyla, Kati Agócs, Tania León, John Supko, Alan Anderson, and Stephen Jaffe, and has taken individual lessons and master classes with artists Kaija Saariaho and William Bolcom. Sarah is a graduate of Northwestern University and the New England Conservatory of Music, and studied at the CUNY Graduate Center. Sarah holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Duke University.
Consulting Bio
Dr. Sarah Curzi holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Duke University, a Master of Arts from Duke University, a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor’s of Music summa cum laude from Northwestern University.
She has taught at Duke University (Durham, NC), Baruch College (New York City), ABCD University High School (Boston, MA), Massachusetts Institute for Technology’s SEED program (pre-engineering for high school students), YMCA Achievers (SAT preparation in Boston, MA), SAT and SSAT preparation for private students in Boston and New York City, and voice, piano, and general music for private students in Brookline and Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Recently, Dr. Curzi leveraged her experience in the higher education industry to create Cafe PhD (cafephd.com), a blog for college students. College is a stressful time for many students as they transition from high school to adult life, and many students find themselves struggling without adequate mentorship.
Dr. Curzi’s help articles at Cafe PhD help students cope with challenges such as self care, organization, and time management that are not addressed in traditional academic environments.