Sara Serpa
A native from Lisboa, Portuguese Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser, who through her practice and performance, explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Serpa has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music, since moving to New York in 2008. Described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” she has produced and released ten albums as a leader, the latest being Intimate Strangers (2021) and Recognition (2020). Serpa was voted 2020 NPR Jazz Vocalist, Rising Star-Female Vocalist 2019 by the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and teaches at The New School. Between 2019-2022 Serpa was Artist-In-Residence at Park Avenue Armory, in New York and she is a recipient of the 2022 NYFA Artist Fellowship, 2022 Copland’s Recording Fund, 2022 and 2021 USArtists Grant from Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts, 2021 Herb Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Composition. Serpa has been active in gender equity in music and is the co-founder (along with fellow musician Jen Shyu) of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), an organization created to empower and elevate women and non-binary musicians.
