As a child, New Jersey native Sarah Kirkland Snider (b. 1973) learnt piano and cello, falling in love with choral singing while attending a series of summer camps at the American Boychoir School (then located in New Jersey). She continued choral studies at Princeton High School before receiving a BA from Wesleyan University followed by a Master of Music and prestigious Artist Diploma from Yale. Snider has since been the recipient of multiple commissions from major orchestras and is a significant figure on the American compositional landscape.

Album artwork

Although Mass for the Endangered is Snider’s first large choral commission, it is preceded by a significant body of writing for voice. This includes Penelope (2010), a complex character study of the wife of...