Described as “evocative” (Resonance) and “surreal” music “to bewilder, amuse, and provoke” (Epoch Times), the works of composer Sarah Genevieve Burghart Rice have won great acclaim and inspired intense debate. Burghart Rice received a 2009 ASCAP/Morton Gould Young Composer Award and took 1st Prize in the 2005 Salvatore Martirano Award. Her music has been championed internationally by ensembles such as the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra (Marin Alsop, director), the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and Juventas.
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Some fantastic musicians and I are working on an album set to release on Neuma Records called Where?. This recording will feature older compositions such as Murmurs from Limbo (the picture above is from that recording session, conducted by Dr. Kathryn Hylton) and new compositions such as Roses less than a Mile from Schlow Library, which is written for the Pennsylvania Quintet. It also features Dr. Tonya Mitchell Spradlin conducting the premiere recording of my mammoth wind ensemble piece The Hardscrabble.


The Penn State School of Music, where I teach, presents the 2023 Penn State New-Music Festival and Symposium. It will take place March 24-25, 2023, featuring the work of composers and scholars selected through an international call for scores and research proposals. We received over 650 submissions from 30 countries. The 2023 festival will feature PSU students and faculty, string quartet in residence Mivos Quartet, guest ensemble Open Music, saxophone quartet Capitol Quartet, and guest percussion quartet Matchstick Percussion.


  • Dein Gehege

    Dein Gehege, for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano Duration: 2:00Completed: 2017Instrumentaion: Mezzo-Soprano, Piano Program Notes Your crate  As an outsider I came into your crate;My face had never contained such awe,Inside me no craving moved before I saw you.In grace, look on my prayerful young hands closed,Mark me among those that serve you,Have mercy, patience, and restrain Me,…

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  • Like Marked

    Like Marked, for Violin and Piano Duration: 9:00Completed: 2017Instrumentaion: Violin, Piano Program Notes dear mister will  i write you because seems that been mistake will prevent me from wonderfully. & fearfully made all bones out of joint maybe & i know not. livre aerie script holds every mark already or more to contain tomorrow &…

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  • Four Bagatelles

    Four Bagatelles, for Clarinet and Piano Duration: 7:00Completed: 2018Instrumentaion: Clarinet and Piano

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