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 conflict through use of contemporary themes and 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 works have been widely performed across the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and she has recently worked with ensembles such as The Esoterics, Harmonium Choral Society and The Gesualdo Six. She also has a strong interest in chamber works and has recently written for Red Note Ensemble and The Ligeti Quartet, commissioned by the Sound Festival and the Cheltenham Music Festival. Dr. Rimkus recently completed her PhD and MM (with distinction) in music composition at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland with Phillip Cooke and Paul Mealor. She earned her B.M. 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 has been internationally recognized through awards such as the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Award, the Sacra/Profana Composition Award, and many others. She was born in Washington, D.C., in 1990 and moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1998.