"She explores a dark, minor/modal world that extends the tradition of modal jazz with elegance and a sophisticated ear for harmony."

8 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Vocals, JAZZ: Modern Creative Jazz



Details:
"Sara Holtzschue explores a dark, minor/modal world that extends the tradition of modal jazz with elegance and a sophisticated ear for harmony. Her serpentine melodies have a natural flow and suit the voice well; their harmonic support is rich and imaginative. ...The lyrics...clearly illustrate a desire to move beyond the pat metaphors of traditional standards."

"The haunting quality of her lyrics is greatly enhanced by melodies which often alternate between chromaticism and unexpected intervallic leaps.â â From reviewers at the Research Foundation of the City University of New York.

A New York native, Sara Holtzschueâs career in music began as a classically trained flutist. Saraâs track began changing during her high school and college years which she spent both playing flute and nurturing her budding interest in composition, jazz and American folk music. She graduated with a degree in music with honors from Barnard College at Columbia University where she studied with David Rakowski, Mario Davidovsky, Jeff Nichols and Harold Jones.

Saraâs interest in jazz led her to a masterâs degree with honors in Jazz Composition from New England Conservatory of Music. As her great-grandmother did at Oberlin, she adopted voice as the focus of her performance studies while at the Conservatory. She had the opportunity to study both voice and composition with Dominique Eade, John McNeil, Bevan Manson, George Garzone and Jimmy Guiffre.

Sara currently performs as a vocalist and composer in the greater New York area. Past performances have been in Boston and Rome. She serves as an Assistant Professor at the City University of New York and conducts jazz workshops for the CUNY College Now program. Her shows are eclectic as her interest lies in performing her original work as well as composing works based on the poetry of such varied writers as Derek Walcott and William Butler Yeats. She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships from the City University of New York Research Foundation, New England Conservatory, The Brooklyn Conservatory, Reed College, Columbia University, Barnard College and, for three consecutive years, the AscaPlus Award for Performance and Composition. She is also a staff writer at www.jazzreview.com. September, 2005 saw Sara as a featured artist on Skyjazz Internet Radio.

Sara has performed with and/or had compositions recorded by the Kingsborough Community College Orchestra, Bruce Barth, George Colligan, Michael Kanen, David Berkman, Dave Ambrosio, Rez Abbasi, Roberta Piket, George Garzone, Andrew Rathbun, Peter Retzlaff, Christian Howes and Taylor Haskins, among others.