Sarah Rossy is a sonic creature of sorts, with a voice that is colourfully chameleonic yet vulnerably human. Bouncing between Tio’tia:ke/Montréal and New York City, Sarah combines influences of jazz, experimental music, and interdisciplinary movement practices into autobiographical, ethereal, and socially-outspoken soundscapes for a truly unique result. Having performed hundreds of live shows of original music in under a decade and being the first Canadian finalist of the Ella Fitzgerald International Voice Competition, Sarah Rossy is an ever-expanding curious artist.
From 2013-2017, Sarah led the chamber-pop group Shyre, playing over 300 live shows of her original music on multiple tours across Quebec and Eastern Canada. A highlight of this chapter included 4 sold-out headlining shows at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and the self-release of 2 EPs: Winds (2014) and Atlas Flag (2015). In 2018, Shyre evolved to become the Sarah Rossy Chamber Ensemble, an experimental jazz orchestra, which made its debut with two sold-out shows at Café Résonance and l’OFF Festival de jazz in 2019. A debut full-length album with this group is set for release in 2023. This much-anticipated work, entitled ‘OF WHO WE HAVE BECOME’, is the fruit of a 4-year healing-creation process, featuring an earnest community of Montréal musicians and whirling layers of extraterrestrial post-production with NYC-based Jack Broza.
Sarah has collaborated with many groups in the Montreal and New York arts scenes. Equally versed as a performer, composer, and recording artist, Sarah’s long list of recording collaborations include Patrick Watson, Thanya Iyer, NO COSMOS, Aaron Dolman, Jack Broza, and more. As a performer, Sarah has shared the stage with many incredible artists, including John Hollenbeck, Christine Jensen, Jen Shyu, and Ambrose Akinmusire. Compositionally, Sarah explores experiential processes which traverse through a feminist lens and nurture the ecosystems of artistic community, mixing her passions for social justice, representation, and unity. In 2019, Sarah devised “Recollections”, an interdisciplinary piece with a 15-piece voice and movement ensemble exploring gender identity through a jazz perspective, with an inclusive community-building creation process.
In 2017, Sarah’s creative visions began to expand to include interdisciplinary movement, visual projections, and ancestral awakenings. Mentorship with voice/body pioneer Meredith Monk, voice and movement research at The World is Sound (Berlin), explorations of ethnic heritage at the Arabic Music Retreat, and attending multiple residencies at Banff Centre for the Arts were all formative experiences which invited holistic perspectives for creative development. In 2019, Sarah joined Diasporakidz Interdisciplinary Collective and began a formative ancestral research journey with Diane Roberts’ Arrivals Legacy Project. In this multi-year process, Sarah has researched her paternal grandmother’s life as a child of Lebanese refugees in Québec, and how the effects of cultural assimilation led to intergenerational trauma and abuse. This deeply moving work is now an active part of Sarah’s process, and led to the creation of WOVEN (2021), an interdisciplinary solo work exploring these themes with movement and visual projections.
