Break is a trio written for Flute, Cello, and Piano by Sarah Jordan. 

Premiered May 19th 2022 at Tykeson Recital Hall - University of Oregon. 

Performed by 
Sarah Jordan, flute 
Austin Bennett, cello
Grant Mack, piano

Break (2022) by Sarah Jordan [Premiere Live Recording]

When Peace is Denied is a Violin Solo written for Joelle Manns. It was written in response to the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 based on the folklore surrounding the Domovyk. 

This recording was from a performance on May 19th 2022 by Joelle Manns at Tykeson Recital Hall - University of Oregon.

When Peace is Denied (2022) by Sarah Jordan [Live]

Duo for Flute and Percussion is a three movement work that explores the timbral and lyrical qualities of the flute and a multitude of percussion instruments. This piece was written for Robin Meiksins in 2021. 

This recording is from a performance of the work May 19th 2022 at Tykeson Recital Hall - University of Oregon. 

Performed by: 
Raven Stokes, flute
Matthew Valenzuela, percussion

Duo for Flute and Percussion (2021) by Sarah Jordan [Live]

Between Clouds and Glass is a piece written for Voice, Piano, and Fixed Electronics. This piece was inspired by some of the experiences the composer felt during the first six months of the COVID lockdowns in America during 2020. 

This piece was originally premiered on YouTube during a live-stream event in Dec. 2020. This recording was of its first live premiere during a recital May 19th 2022 in Tykeson Recital Hall - University of Oregon. 

Performed by: 
Alice Somerville, voice 
Jacob Lee, piano

Between Clouds and Glass (2020) by Sarah Jordan [Live]

The Sweetest Bouquet (Stay) is an art song written for Soprano Voice and Piano. It is dedicated to Sarah’s family and friends. 

Performed by: 
Alice Somerville, voice 
Jacob Lee, piano 

The Sweetest Bouquet (Stay)
by Sarah Jordan: 

Ocean breeze in the east 
Curtains sway in an enticing dance

Happiness surrounds us. 
The future becomes of us. 

You stayed when I was led astray 
You stayed when things turned to gray.
[With] a look and a smile,
I reach for the flowers and say, 

“Let me craft you the sweetest bouquet.
The one I saw sleeping one day.

Roses pink for happiness.
Rosemary for remembrance. 

Cherry blossoms for beginnings 
and good fortunes. 

Baby’s breath for love.
Basil for good wishes. 

Salvia, so you know I am thinking of you
here and there as I have things to do. 

These are the flowers I wish to give.
I hope you accept this bouquet.
One I saw sleeping one day.”

Ocean breeze continues to flow.
I no longer notice and I want you to know. 

I’ll stay when you are led astray. 
I’ll stay when things turn gray. 
I’ll stay 
I’ll stay

The Sweetest Bouquet (Stay) (2022) by Sarah Jordan [Live Premiere]

This is the first movement of a piece written for clarinet, violin, and piano. "Dances for Trio" is a three movement piece based on three traditional dances. 
Movement I: The Grand March 
Movement II: Waltz
Movement III: Cotillion 

Copyright 2014 by Sarah Jordan. All rights reserved.

Dances For Trio - Mvm. I: The Grand March (2014) by Sarah Jordan (live recording)

This is a live recording of the third movement of a piece written for clarinet, violin, and piano composed by Sarah Jordan. "Dances for Trio" is a three movement piece based on three traditional dances. 
Movement I: The Grand March 
Movement II: Waltz
Movement III: Cotillion

Copyright 2014 by Sarah Jordan. All rights reserved.

Dances For Trio - Mvm. III: Cotillion (2014) by Sarah Jordan (live recording)

This is a vocal work written by Sarah Jordan for piano and soprano. The lyrics are also written by the composer. This piece is written in a minimalist style to accentuate the modal melodic line found in the vocal part. This style was also chosen to match the style and contents of the lyrics. 

This is a live recording with the performers: 
Soprano - Paulina Ramirez 
Piano - Sarah Jordan 

Recording by Elena Brewster 

Lyrics: 
Starlight, star bright
oh how you shine
o'er the night sky 

Though all seems bleak 
in this presence I am meek
Humbled in wonder 

Looking at the stars in the sky
the universe whole in my eyes
I can't dwell in the misery anymore 

The peace I seek 
I cannot seem to keep 
oh where do I go? 

I pray I can touch
All that matters to me
in what's meant to be 

Looking at the stars in the sky
the universe whole in my eyes
I can't dwell in the misery anymore 

Life is so unknown 
but I know I've grown 
I will find my way home 

copyright 2016 by Sarah Jordan. All rights reserved.

Starlight

Starlight (2016)by Sarah Jordan

This piece was a commissioned work for "Sospiro" vocal ensemble. They premiered the work on December 1, 2017 in Beall Concert Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. The piece was used to highlight Peggy Freydberg's poem "Chorus of Cells" which is what is being read at the beginning of this recording. The choral piece was based on a quote by Billy Collins concerning Freydberg's poetry which states, “Reading these poems made me feel like I was being let in on a secret, a secret I’m dying to whisper to lots of other people.”

Secret (2017) (Premiere Live Recording) by Sarah Jordan

Composed by Sarah Jordan
Premiered by Darlene Mueller, Clarinet 
November 12, 2018 Tykeson Rehearsal Hall during the Oregon Composer Forum (OCF) Fall 2018 Recital. 

The Lone Woodsman is a solo Bb clarinet work that is structured and centralized around thematic elements depicting a man who lives alone in a mountainous homestead. Please relax and enjoy as the clarinet tells the story of a hermit who joyfully lives out his days in his small cabin in the woods. Can you identify his different actions and impressions throughout his day? 
- Waking up 
- Boiling water
- Making coffee 
- Starting the work outside 
- Splitting wood 
- Water break 
- Crash! In the bushes…. what’s that rustling?
- It is just a chipmunk 
- The river 
- Casting the fishing line
- Contemplating the past / The birds / The river
- The stars appear 
- It is time for bed

The Lone Woodsman (2018)[Premiere Live Recording]

Composed by Sarah Jordan
Premiered by:
Darren Fujii and Thomas Janssen, Euphonium
Isaac Smith and Kalin Mark, Tuba
November 12, 2018 Tykeson Rehearsal Hall during the Oregon Composer Forum (OCF) Fall 2018 Recital.

How the Tables Have Turned is a Tuba Quartet that was inspired by an inner reflection of where I started as a composer to the level I am today. One of the things I have mostly attributed to this change is the music theory knowledge I have gained through my courses of study. Each of the five movements in this work are inspired by a particular theoretical technique that I have found transformative in my growth as a musician. Along with this, each movement’s title pays respect to the instructor who was most influential when learning the concept(s). 

I. Un(pack)ing the Change
This movement is influenced by my course of study from 16th C. to 18th C. Counterpoint.

How The Tables Have Turned (2018-2019) I. Un(packing) the Change [Premiere Live Recording]

Composed by Sarah Jordan
Premiered by: 
Estelí Gomez, Soprano
Simeon Brown, Violin
Rubi Yan, Viola
Hendrik Mobley, Cello
November 4, 2018 Beall Concert Hall during the University of Oregon Estelí Gomez 2018 Residency Recital.

This vocal work was inspired by my recent discovery of the Imagist Poetry movement from the early 20th C. Within the piece I set the text “November” by Amy Lowell; who was inspired by this particular poetry style in her own work. The text gives way to personal emotional interpretation which I took the liberty of expressing through the music. “November” was composed for soprano Estelì Gomez and was premiered by her November 4, 2018.

November 
By Amy Lowell

The vine leaves against the brick wall of my house
are rusty and broken

Dead leaves gather under the pine-trees

The brittle boughs of lilac-bushes
Sweep against the stars

And I sit under a lamp
Trying to write down the emptiness of my heart

Even the cat will not stay with me
But prefers the rain under the meager shelter of a cellar window

November (2018) [Premiere Live Recording] Featuring Estelí Gomez

Bear (English) - brown
Medved (Russian) - honey-eater
Lokys (Lithuanian) - shaggy coat

These are just some of the examples of the literal translation for the animal that in english is referred to as the “Bear”. Different languages and cultures have a word associated with the “Bear”; however, they are just nicknames attributed to the animal… not an actual unique identifier. Why does the “Bear” not have its own unique name? It is speculated by historians that the “Bear” was never referred to by name because of superstition. 

Luckily, linguists have been making ground breaking work on translations and discovering the origins of words thanks to the founding of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) Language in the 19th C.. Through these findings it is now believed that one of the original words for the “Bear” is "*rktho-". Taking the meaning of other languages such as the Sanskrit "rkshas" and the Celtic world "*arto-" linguists believe that "*rktho-" directly translates to mean “The Destroyer”. 

Though it has never been seen as a gentle animal, the meaning of "*rktho-" gave me a new insight into the darker historical perception. With this new knowledge and history in mind, I was inspired to write this piece depicting the “Bear” under its original name.

This piece was written for the Composers of Oregon Chamber Orchestra (COCO) which they premiered during their concert on May 5, 2019. 

This is a recording from this piece's live performance during Sarah Jordan's Master Composition Recital - November 18, 2019 at the University of Oregon, Beall Concert Hall. 

All made possible by the performers:
Samuel Lord Kalcheim, Conductor
Sarah Jordan, Flute
Wesley Bercherer, Oboe
Chelsea Oden, Clarinet
Anthony Aguayo, Bass Clarinet
Bronson York, Bassoon (Solo) 
Justin Stanley and Sean Brennan, Horn
Jessica Farmer, Trumpet
Josh Thomas-Urlick, Trombone
Matthew Valenzuela, Kelsey Molinari, and Natalie North, Percussion
Jacob Lee, Piano
Ben Gardner and Tina Glausi, Violin
Rubi Yan, Viola
Clair Dietz, Cello
Nick Burton, Double Bass

*rktho - (2018-2019) by Sarah Jordan [Live]

Air (1995) for flute solo, dedicated to Aurele Nicolet for his 70th Birthday, is Takemitsu's last completed work. Unlike in his other flute works, Takemitsu uses few extended techniques in this piece. He does still incorporate the use of flutter-tonguing and a few "bent" or slow glissando notes for emotional expressivity. This recording features Sarah Jordan on flute.

Air by Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996)

Sarah Jordan is a composer, flute performer, and music educator residing in Eugene, Oregon. Sarah has always thought of music as her voice to express the thoughts and emotions she wishes to convey and inspire within listeners. Though this is her personal way of communication, she also hopes to lend a platform in which other’s texts, emotions, and ideas can live. For every composition and performance she aims to understand, engage, and collaborate with the performers and audience in a way that all can feel confident and passionate about a work. 
Her works have been performed internationally by musical artists and ensembles including, the Delgani String Quartet, Duo Ostinato, Estelì Gomez, Arwen Myers, The Principal Brass, Sound of Late, and the Quasar Saxophone Quartet. Her most recent activities include her piece Hour Twenty-Three (2018) for Flute, Viola, and Double Bass premiered by members of the Sound of Late ensemble during the 2018 Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium; her piece November (2018) written for soprano and string trio premiered by grammy-award winning artist Estelì Gomez during her University of Oregon residency in November, 2018;  her percussion trio Desperation with a Smile (2018) premiered and by the University of Oregon Percussion Studio in February 2019; her piece *rktho- (2018-2019) for Chamber Orchestra was premiered by the Composers of Oregon Chamber Ensemble (COCO) during their 2019 Spring Concert at the University of Oregon; her piece Sisters in the Garden (2019) for Flute/Bass Flute, A Clarinet, and Viola was commissioned by the TaiHei New Music Ensemble for their award winning project “A Day in a Chinese Garden” and was premiered at the University of Oregon and the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon, USA;  her alto saxophone and piano piece Paroxysm (2019) premiered by Duo Ostinato was commissioned by the Thailand International Composition Festival in August, 2019 at Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand; her piece Suite of Miniatures for Flute Choir (2019) for Flute Choir was premiered by the University of Oregon Flute Studio in their Fall 2019 concert, conducted by Sarah; she then gave her Master of Music in Composition Recital at the University of Oregon, Beall Concert Hall which featured many of her recent works, including the premiere of her chamber orchestra piece, Fragmented Messages (2019); her third string quartet, Anticipation (2020), premiered by the Delgani String Quartet in February 2020 at the University of Oregon; A Lone Woodsman (2018) for Bb Clarinet solo was performed during the International Women’s Day Recital at the University of the Pacific in March 2020; her piece Thoughts (2020) for Soprano was premiered during a YouTube live concert event by Arwen Myers in May, 2020; then in June 2020 she performed and premiered her work Isolated Reveries (2020) for flute, string trio, and electronics, Late Night Contemplation (2020) and Memories (2016) both for solo flute during the 2020 Fresh Inc Festival: Digital Edition. 
	In 2016 Sarah received a dual Bachelor of Music in Composition and Flute Performance from the University of the Pacific, Conservatory of Music where she studied composition with Dr. Robert Coburn, Dr. Francois Rose, and Dr. Eric Wood and flute performance with Prof. Mathew Krejci. She then received her Master of Music in Composition in 2020 from the University of Oregon and is currently continuing her education there to obtain a PhD in Music Composition under Dr. Robert Kyr and Dr. David Crumb. 

For inquiries, commissions, and for parts/scores/performance please contact Sarah at: sjordanmusic@gmail.com

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