Sarah Wallin Huff

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 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 2012-2016.

Wallin Huff has been a performer on the violin, viola, and six-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 United States and abroad, including the Exeter Phoenix Auditorium in Devon, England; the Mosman Art Gallery in Sydney, Australia; the Zipper Hall in LA; 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

“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, orchestral concert pieces to 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. 

Albums

Shards

Shards

Release Date: August 11, 2023
Catalog Number: NV6549
21st Century
Chamber
Flute
Piano
Violin
Sarah Wallin Huff returns to Navona Records with SHARDS, a wide variety of compositions that explore life, love, death, and the philosophy and mysticism that make up the in-betweens. True to the unique identity of Wallin Huff’s admirable body of work, the compositions building SHARDS structure themselves around brilliantly original frameworks while also delivering a philosophical, thoughtful structure to the album. Wallin Huff sufficiently and spectacularly elaborates upon her identity as a self-described “stream-of-consciousness composer” in this contemplative and explorative journey, a comprehensive album sure to make waves with its mystical nature.

Dashing Vol. 2

Release Date: November 12, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6374
21st Century
Baroque
Holiday
Orchestra
Piano
Saxophone
Navona Records presents DASHING VOL. 2, a festive assortment of new classical and jazz arrangements and compositions inspired by staples of the holiday season. Unwrap this gift from Sarah Wallin Huff, Joseph Turrin, Kristina Marinova, Jordan VanHemert, David W. Solomons, Elizabeth J. Start, Alan Rinehart, and Joseph T. Spaniola to find a variety of new works and familiar favorites. All of the traditional holiday sounds are featured in this album, embellished with distinguished compositional twists that complement seasonal standards. Experience the holidays in a refreshing way with reharmonizations of Silent Night, Carol Of The Bells for solo guitar, a jazz arrangement of Christmas Time is Here, and more.

Pinnacle Vol. 2

Release Date: September 24, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6368
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Clarinet
Piano
String Quartet
Navona Records presents PINNACLE VOL. 2, a collection of contemporary chamber works by composers John A. Carollo, Edmund Cionek, Sarah Wallin Huff, Santiago Kodela, Adnan Marafi, Amintas Silva, Joseph T. Spaniola, and Kong-Yu Wong, that highlight the melodic, emotive, and dramatic styles offered by today’s chamber music. Throughout the album, the composers explore the cyclicity of life and nature.

Sustain Vol. 2

Release Date: April 23, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6345
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Piano
Piano Trio
Saxophone
Two years after the release of SUSTAIN comes the long-anticipated follow-up, SUSTAIN VOL. 2. This fresh collection of works centered around the piano includes a range of contemporary compositional styles: tonal, atonal, and everything in between. This volume features a new cast of composers and performers, with contributions by Sarah Wallin-Huff, Karen Tarlow, Chen-Hsin Su, Bill Sherrill, Jim Puckett, Ron Nagorcka, Gordon Monahan, Kenneth A. Kuhn, Santiago Kodela, John Craven, and John A. Carollo. The album’s varied soundscapes and arrangements—including solo piano, piano and saxophone, and piano and strings—constantly surprise and delight the ear. A fitting sequel to the first installment, SUSTAIN VOL. 2 is steeped in the dynamic complexity piano music offers.

Lock & Key Vol. II

Release Date: February 12, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6335
21st Century
Chamber
Clarinet
Piano
Wind Ensemble
LOCK & KEY VOL II is the second presentation of five composers drawing from the well of inspiration – in highly heterogeneous ways and from a plethora of sources, yet all united by a common theme: the profound depths of the human experience. The pieces all revel exuberantly: in the natural beauty of Iceland, the nostalgia evoked by a distantly familiar melody, the random augury of a deck of tarot cards, late 19th Century anthems adapted for woodwind quintet, or the kinetic energy of musical gestures.

Prisma Vol. 3

Release Date: February 14, 2020
Catalog Number: NV6271
21st Century
Orchestral
Clarinet
Orchestra
Navona Records’ exhilarating PRISMA VOL. 3 unveils the diverse faces of contemporary orchestral music. Featuring the works of seven composers, PRISMA VOL. 3 follows up the success of the first two PRISMA installments with symphonic music that is both innovative and deeply alluring.

Soul Of The Machine

Release Date: August 1, 2014
Catalog Number: NV5965
21st Century
Chamber
Piano
String Quartet
As in a Philip K. Dick or Isaac Asimov novel, composer Sarah Wallin Huff's music on SOUL OF THE MACHINE, her debut solo release on Navona Records, explores the relationships between mechanical structures, organic beauty, and identity.

Allusions

Release Date: September 1, 2013
Catalog Number: NV5927
21st Century
Chamber
Clarinet
Oboe
String Quartet
The chamber ensemble format has historically been able to intimately interpret works with a variety of emotional nuance, and retains flexibility to perform music with myriad influences. ALLUSIONS, an album of evocative chamber works, showcases the expressive and interpretive abilities of contemporary composition and features works by five composers.