Sarah Weaver

Sarah Weaver is a New York-based contemporary composer, conductor, and technologist working internationally as a specialist in Network Music. Network Music utilizes the internet as an artistic medium and is also conceived as a metaphor for localized works. Weaver has been an innovator for over ten years in Telematic Music - live performance via the internet by musicians in different geographic locations. Concerts take place over very high-bandwidth internet utilizing specialized telematic audio and video technology for low-latency, multichannel, performance-quality experience. Weaver has worked closely in this medium with Mark Dresser, Chris Chafe, early works with Pauline Oliveros, and many collaborators, as each project is inherently collaborative containing pieces by multiple composers. Projects involving Weaver’s works include “Universal Synchrony Music (2013-current)” collaboration with NASA Kepler/K2 Mission, “Sustainable Balance (2016)” in “Changing Tides: A Telematic Translocational Concert Series - San Diego, New York”, “Time Axiom: New York, Belfast, Zurich (2013)”, “Thresholding: New York - Seoul (2012)”, “Telematic Transform Music: New York, California, Montreal, Seattle (2011)”, “Center to Center: New York, Belfast (2011)”, “Inspiraling 2010-2011: Telematic Jazz Explorations - New York, California”, “Deep Tones for Peace: Jerusalem - New York (2009)”, “Telemergence: New York, California (2008)”, “Telematic Circle: New York, California (2007)”, “100 Meeting Places: Chicago, California, New York (2006)”, and “ResoNations 2009-2013: International Concerts for Peace” at international sites in San Diego, Banff, Belfast, South Korea, Beijing, Abu Dhabi, Nairobi, and at local sites in New York (2013-current) including Iridium Jazz Club, BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and the United Nations Headquarters. Weaver is the director and a founding member of NowNet Arts Inc. (2017), a not-for-profit organization for Network Arts production.

Weaver has composed large ensemble pieces for twenty years, integrating influences of jazz, contemporary classical, improvisation, computer music, world music, and innovative individual music languages of performers. Most recently she has written for musicians including Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Samir Chatterjee, Yoon Sun Choi, Robert Dick, Mark Dresser, Marty Ehrlich, Amir ElSaffar, Julie Ferrara, Gerry Hemingway, Oliver Lake, Denman Maroney, Miya Masaoka, Sam Pluta, Ned Rothenberg, Ursel Schlicht, Jen Shyu, Satoshi Takeishi, David Taylor, Doug Van Nort, and Min Xiao-Fen. Weaver leads her own group "Sarah Weaver Ensemble" and was co-director of the “SLM Ensemble” together with Mark Dresser 2014-2017. Her large ensemble works have been performed at many venues throughout New York including Roulette, The Stone, Symphony Space, The Cell, Austrian Cultural Forum, Iridium Jazz Club, and the Emily Harvey Foundation. Weaver has composed solo works for Mark Dresser, Gerry Hemingway, Ray Anderson, David Taylor, and herself, utilizing the innovative artistic languages of each musician in the pieces. Latest premieres include “Polydimensional Transformation” for Mark Dresser on the Interpretations Series at Roulette NY (2016), “Inner Here” for Ray Anderson (2015) and “Guidance” for David Taylor (2016) at The Cell NY. Solo works “Node 111” and “Reality Axis” for Gerry Hemingway were toured in Southeast Asia (2015) and New Zealand (2016). Weaver also composes chamber works including peace music “Refuge (2015)”, “Remembered Future (2016)”, and “Sound in Peace (2016)” duo with Joe McPhee in remembrance of Pauline Oliveros.

Recordings and publications involving Weaver’s works are “Source” with the SLM Ensemble (Liminal Music Label), “Universal Synchrony Music, Volume 1” in the DVD “Virtual Tour: A Reduced-Carbon Footprint Concert Series” (pfMENTUM Label), “Deep Tones for Peace” (Kadima Label), United Nations Compendium Music as a Global Resource: Solutions for Social and Economic Issues, Leonardo Music Journal, International Society for Improvised Music, International Association of Schools of Jazz, and MusicWorks.

Weaver has taught and presented at various universities in-person and via the internet including New York University, New York University Abu Dhabi, New York University Florence, University of California San Diego, Stanford University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stony Brook University, The New School, Northwestern University, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, University of California Santa Cruz, University of Denver, University of Montana, University of Virginia, McGill University, Concordia University, York University Toronto, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Queens University Belfast, University College Cork Ireland, Trossingen University of Music Germany, Silpakorn University Bangkok, LaSalle School of Contemporary Music Singapore, National University of Singapore, New Zealand School of Music, and the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Weaver has also taught private lessons throughout her career.

Weaver was raised in the Chicago area in a family of humanitarians and began working in New York in 1998. She received her bachelors degree from the University of Michigan, masters degree from New York University, and is currently advanced in her PhD at Stony Brook University. Certifications include Soundpainting - the gestural language of composer Walter Thompson, and Deep Listening - the practice of composer Pauline Oliveros. Weaver was the executive director and conference director of the International Society for Improvised Music 2004-2008 and currently serves on the Advisory Council. SyncSource LLC is the managing business for Weaver’s artistic work, teaching engagements, technology applications, and recording and publishing label. She is a member of ASCAP, College Music Society, New York Women Composers, and National Association of Composers.