Contact

Sarah Wallin Huff

Stream-of-Consciousness Composer

About Me

Photo Credit: Tim Yao
Photo Credit: Tim Yao

Sarah Wallin Huff is a music lecturer at California Polytechnic University of Pomona, teaching “History of Technology in Music”, for which she published an original textbook with Great River Learning in 2019. She received her M.A. in Music Composition at Claremont Graduate University in 2008, and she was the professor of Composition and Advanced Theory (as well as conductor of the Chamber Ensemble) at The Master’s University in Santa Clarita from 2012 to 2016.

Wallin Huff has been a performer on the violin, viola, and 6-string electric violin since 1990. She has experience playing with diverse ensembles and as a soloist for a variety of events and concerts, as well as performing on various recording projects, large and small. Her original compositions have been performed throughout the States and abroad, including the Exeter Phoenix Auditorium in Devon, England; the Mosman Art Gallery in Sydney, Australia; the Zipper Hall in Los Angeles; and the National Opera Center in New York City. Her work has been called “a stunning collection of gorgeous, orchestral selections…that are, at times, vividly haunting but always entirely engrossing” (Barbra Dillon); “…incredible depth and creative complexity” (Wesley Derbyshire); “Her music is quite complex and unusual and yet…very easy to absorb and appreciate” (Baby Sue); and “Sarah’s music has a classy, understated sound, yet it is baroque and ornate…A true masterpiece, with so many nuances” (ArtistRack).

Her compositions range from solo works to chamber ensembles, to orchestral concert pieces and electronic work, as well as work for film and video games. While her sonic output crosses a variety of moods and styles, a common thread linking them all is what she calls “stream-of-consciousness composition,” in which every piece is built upon an enigmatic, underlying framework, from which the work fluidly evolves.

Contact Sarah Wallin Huff via email.

Honors

Other Highlights

  • Sarah’s compositions have been performed throughout the States and abroad, including the Zipper Hall in Los Angeles and the Exeter Phoenix Auditorium in Devon, England.
  • Her work is featured on Navona Records’ “SOUL OF THE MACHINE,” a full album of her original music that explores the relationships between mechanical structures, organic beauty, and identity.
  • The recording of her violin trio, “Counterpoint Invariable,” found on Soul of the Machine, appeared on the First Round Ballot for the 2015 Grammys for the category of Best Small Ensemble Performance.
  • Sarah composed and recorded a fifty-minute-long album of “Musical Response” works, in collaboration with author Jorge Armenteros for the release of his novel, THE BOOK OF I, in November 2014.
  • Sarah created a solo violin arrangement of Hermann’s Shower Scene Music from “Psycho” and performed it on camera as the featured violinist for the 2013 art film “Psycho Nacirema,” created by and starring James Franco, on the set of the Bates Motel, Universal Studios, Hollywood
  • Sarah composed original string trio parts to accompany two songs by DJ Deorro for his performances at Coachella in April 2015, personally recorded all three parts in studio for use in the performance, hired the stage musician-performers needed for the two Coachella events, and choreographed the stage performers’ work for the shows
  • Sarah Wallin Huff has been playing the violin since 1990. She has also performed on Baroque violin and viola with the ensemble “Collegium Musicum,” and has been a regular performer on six-string electric violin since 2003.
  • She toured from 1999 to 2002 as a musician across the continental U.S. and eleven European countries, as well as holding the position of Assistant Director during her final tour.

Experience

  • Violin/Theory/Composition Instruction (students aged 2-62) –  since 1998
  • Performing – since 1990
  • Composing – since 1993
  • Writing – since 1994

Education

Professional Affiliations