Sari Gruber biography

An acclaimed recitalist, Ms. Gruber has appeared numerous times in solo recital at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, in addition to other noted recital venues, including Merkin Hall, San Francisco Performances, the 92nd Street Y, NYC’s Miller Theater, and San Francisco Opera’s Schwabacher Debut Recital Series, and was also the featured recital for the MTNA/NATS national convention in Salt Lake City. Ms. Gruber enjoys a special relationship with New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), with whom she has sung many times, and is honored to serve on its Artists Council. Ms. Gruber is also a founding member of the Pittsburgh Song Collaborative. She has given many recitals throughout the United States under the auspices of the Naumburg Foundation and Marilyn Horne Foundation. Other notable recital credits include a series of pre-concert recitals for Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Shakespeare Festival, Copland’s Poems of Emily Dickinson for New York Philharmonic’s Copland Festival, and appearances at Moab Music Festival, Skaneateles Festival, and Chicago Humanities Festival. She is featured on several recordings of songs by American composer Lori Laitman, as well as the most recent release by Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival.

On the concert stage, Ms. Gruber has sung with Boston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque, Indianapolis Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Boston Baroque, NC Symphony, Portland Baroque, Columbus Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Ensemble, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Florida Philharmonic, Berkshire Choral Festival, Skaneateles Festival, Gettysburg Festival, Jacksonville Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and Erie Philharmonic, in repertoire from Handel’s Messiah to Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 to Bernstein’s Songfest.

While Ms. Gruber still enjoys an active performing career, she teaches voice and performance at a variety of levels, ranging from high school students to active professionals. In addition to maintaining a private studio, she has conducted master classes and seminars at Pittsburgh Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Michigan State University, Aspen Opera Theatre Center, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Yale University, Skidmore College, SUNY Fredonia, Westminster College, Pittsfield (MA) Public Schools, and Roosevelt University. She has adjudicated for numerous organizations and competitions, including Opera America Discovery Grants for Female Composers, Vocal Arts DC Art Song Discovery Competition, MTNA District Competition, Denver Lyric Opera Guild, Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions. In past years, she has served on the voice faculties at Duquesne University’s Mary Pappert School of Music, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and Land of Enchantment Opera (now Rose Rock Opera). In addition to teaching classical singing at Carnegie Mellon, Ms. Gruber teaches musical theater vocal technique at Point Park University’s College of Performing Arts (COPA). Her students have performed at Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Colorado, Central City Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Des Moines Opera, and Virginia Opera, among others, as well as on Broadway and national tours.

The daughter of a physical chemist and a language teacher, Ms. Gruber grew up in Germany and the US, and went to college to study pre-med before she discovered a voice that matched her passion for acting, poetry, languages, and collaboration. Ms. Gruber holds a B.A. from Yale University and a Master of Music in Voice from The Juilliard School. She pursued further training at the Juilliard Opera Center and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. Her love of recital brought her to study song literature at both the Tanglewood Music Center and the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute. A semi-finalist in the 1996 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Gruber has also been awarded the Sara Tucker Grant from the Tucker Foundation, the William Sullivan Grant, a study grant from the Licia Albanese Foundation, two Richard F. Gold Career Grants, the DeRosa Prize from The Juilliard School, and the prestigious Louis Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Arts given to one graduating senior from Yale College each year at Commencement. While an undergraduate at Yale, she founded the Opera Theater of Yale College, which is still in existence and has helped to launch a number of today’s professional singers.