Sara Ross

Composer, born in the Azores, resides in Lisbon.
In 2024, she was the Young Composer in Residence at Casa da Música, where she premiered three new works: When She Died (Remix Ensemble, based on a poem by the Iranian Mahvash Sabet, currently imprisoned for religious reasons), Lest (Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música) and Música Possível (ClandesTrio). The same year, she premiered the opera Madrugada (Acto IV) (libretto by Marta Pais Oliveira; direction by Daniela Cruz; cond. Jan Wierzba) and was part of the team for the project Sons de Uma Revolução (Conservatório Artallis de Loures and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), under the artistic direction of Mikhail Karikis, premiering the work “(na aridez dos dias) acredito na terra da possibilidade“.

Her production includes Europa – metamorfoses de amor (2023, Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa, whose tour ended at the Philharmonie Berlin), Of Ahmad (Ensemble Darcos), the chamber operas Ai, tu é que és o meu rapaz (commissioned by Quarteto Contratempus), IN(opeRA)VEL (libretto by Tiago Schwäbl, direction by Joana Providência) and Margarida (winner of the 1st prize Carlos Pontes de Leça, Operafest Lisbon 2020), and the music for the ballet algo_ritmo by the duo Hexa for the Companhia Nacional de Bailado.

She was Young Composer Associate at the Teatro Nacional São Carlos (2017/18) and Artist in Residence at the 43rd Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano (IT, 2018). As an arranger, she collaborated with Maria João & OGRE Electric on the album Songs for Shakespeare (2022), Tiago Bettencourt (2023) and the Orquestra Metropolitana (Commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, 2024); as a producer, she self-released the single To Hope, featuring Maria João on vocals. She regularly collaborated with the Ensemble Juvenil de Setúbal (2014-2021), an artistic project for social inclusion. She received honorable mentions at the Bernardo Sassetti Prize (2019) and the Miso Music competition (2009) and was selected for the Mostra Nacional de Criadores (2014).

In 2025, she premiered the opera M.O.G.A. with libretto by Inês Barahona (Festival Informal de Ópera, Loulé), the work A zebra, o burro, a mágoa e o tédio (commissioned by the Hot Clube Jazz Orchestra), and No Teu Nome (commissioned by Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa / 37th Temporada de Música em São Roque), part of the commemorations of the 500th anniversary of the death of Queen D. Leonor.

She is a co-founder of FIO — Festival Informal de Ópera and of Festival Prolífica.
She studied acousmatic music with Sebastian Castagna (Teesside University, UK) and composition with Luís Tinoco, Carlos Caires and António Pinho Vargas (ESML).