At the early age of seven, Sarai Moore began piano and continued her studies with superior ratings through her participation in the Florida Federation of Music Clubs Junior Festival and the National Guild of Piano Teachers Auditions. Her successful artistic work throughout adolescence led Sarai to Stetson University’s School of Music where she was accepted and awarded the William E. Duckwitz Talent Scholarship.
While at Stetson, Sarai pursued composition studies working with Dr. Manuel de Murga and Dr. Sidney Hodkinson. As a composer, Sarai participated in Stetson University’s Student Composer concerts with notable guest artists including Michael Rickman and David Amram, and had several of her works performed each year since 2008. In 2009, Sarai premiered her own chamber work, Reaching at her Senior Composition Recital and her piece was published in Touchstone Magazine. She attended the NYU ASCAP Buddy Baker Film Score workshop in the summer of 2011. She wrote Within These Walls for Yarn/Wire, which was premiered by the ensemble in NYC, March of 2015. Sarai published her piece Synergisms for 5 Violins at Hunter College and collaborated with Hunter Alumni dance choreographers on a performance project for dancers and musicians.
Sarai graduated with honors from Daytona State College with an Associate of Arts, and in May 2010, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Stetson University. Sarai holds her Masters in Composition from Hunter College where her emphasis was in ethnomusicology and music composition. Her teachers include Edit Palmer, Michael Rickman, Harold Blanchard, Janet Rabe-Meyer, Nathan Wolek, Shafer Mahoney and Steven Graff.
Sarai performed in numerous ensembles, including the Daytona State College Jazz Band and Concert Choir, as well as Stetson University’s Women’s Chorale, studying with conductors such as Norton Christeson, Andrew Larson and Alan Raines. In 2010, Sarai performed with the Women’s Chorale in the National American Choral Director’s Association in Memphis.
As a music teacher for over 25 years, Sarai has maintained a private studio, specializing in piano, voice, composition, improvisation, song-writing, playing in a band, music theory, and history. Additionally, Sarai is an award winning freelance photographer in the Central Florida area and NYC areas. In 2008, her untitled work from Dance Series was distinguished with 2 awards in the Stetson University Student Juried Art Exhibition and was featured at the DeLand Museum of Art. She served as the photographer for the Stetson University School of Music, and has also shot for The Juilliard School, Hunter College and Classical Singer Magazine.
Sarai worked in production, operations and administrative management for ABC, American Composers Orchestra, The Juilliard School, Opera America, New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theatre, Universal Studios, Lincoln Center, Stetson University, and Hunter College to name a few, and continues to freelance in operations and production consulting. She currently is the managing Director at Ariel Rivka Dance. Sarai continues to manage and create in her band Decanted Youth based in Red Hook, Brooklyn.