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Artistic Leader. Creative Producer. Speaker. Consultant.
Driving creative evolution through experiences
that resonate, connect,
and endure.
About Sarah
Recently featured on PBS Newshour
Sarah Williams is a celebrated producer and curator who brings complex artistic visions to life across music, theater, and film. With a deep commitment to creative exploration and institutional growth, she produces work that challenges convention, sparks conversation, and creates space for experimentation and joy.
Her collaborative approach has shaped acclaimed projects with artists including Bill T. Jones, Sasha Velour, Missy Mazzoli, Tyshawn Sorey, Caroline Shaw, Esperanza Spalding, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and many others—always prioritizing equity, risk-taking, and sustainable growth.
Beyond producing, Sarah consults on creative strategy and organizational design, lectures at universities and conferences, and mentors the next generation of cultural leaders.
Recently featured on PBS Newshour
"Sarah Williams has a well-earned reputation as a powerhouse of fresh ideas and a savvy commissioner of new work." - Musical America
Works such as
The Island We Made
Music - Angélica Negrón
Film - Matthew Placek
Narrator - Sasha Velour
Vocals - Eliza Bagg
Harp - Bridget Kibbey
Creative Producer - Sarah Williams
The Island We Made combines ethereal electronic music and the transformative art of drag lip-sync to explore familial relationships and a multi-generational depiction of “Mother.” A haunting lullaby formed from the memories and individual relationships of its collaborators.
"A gracious observation of love." - The New Yorker
"An enormity of feeling" - NPR
"Melancholy and meditative." - The New York Times
Film - Matthew Placek
Narrator - Sasha Velour
Vocals - Eliza Bagg
Harp - Bridget Kibbey
Creative Producer - Sarah Williams
The Island We Made combines ethereal electronic music and the transformative art of drag lip-sync to explore familial relationships and a multi-generational depiction of “Mother.” A haunting lullaby formed from the memories and individual relationships of its collaborators.
"A gracious observation of love." - The New Yorker
"An enormity of feeling" - NPR
"Melancholy and meditative." - The New York Times
Paper Tiger
Music & Text - Yaz Lancaster
Sean Pecknold - Film Director
Eliza Bagg & Miss Grit - Vocals
Mary Prescott - Piano
Tyler Neidermayer - Sound Engineer/Design, Additional Production
John Kilgore - Recording Engineer
Megan Doheny - Lead Dancer
Teresa “Toogie” Barcelo - Choreographer
Courtney Wynn Cooper - Art Director
Travis Waddell - Director of Photography
Adi Goodrich - Production Design
Ash Marshall - Film Producer
Sarah Williams - Creative Producer
From Yaz Lancaster: From Yaz Lancaster: In PAPER TIGER, I reflect on nearly a decade of my identity as a queer person of color. In the opening song Visions, I recount feelings of being unseen and undesired in a time where marginalized genders had little mainstream representation, and Blackness was seen as less desirable. The titular song Paper Tiger explores the multitudes and complexities of gender expansiveness– the music throughout the work straddles several genre lines including hip/trip-hop, contemporary classical, and hyperpop. The final song Metalloid celebrates the joy to be had in “trans-ness” and gender nonconformity– in the ability to continually create oneself: “I can be anyone / I can be anything.”
Inspired by the theme of visibility in my composition, Sean made a film about the struggle for acceptance and wanting to be seen in a world crowded by conformity. Using a range of expressive dances, emotions and abstract sets, they chart a frustrating, repetitive, confusing, euphoric, twisting path towards finding the strength to be oneself during a day in the life of our lead character.
Sean Pecknold - Film Director
Eliza Bagg & Miss Grit - Vocals
Mary Prescott - Piano
Tyler Neidermayer - Sound Engineer/Design, Additional Production
John Kilgore - Recording Engineer
Megan Doheny - Lead Dancer
Teresa “Toogie” Barcelo - Choreographer
Courtney Wynn Cooper - Art Director
Travis Waddell - Director of Photography
Adi Goodrich - Production Design
Ash Marshall - Film Producer
Sarah Williams - Creative Producer
From Yaz Lancaster: From Yaz Lancaster: In PAPER TIGER, I reflect on nearly a decade of my identity as a queer person of color. In the opening song Visions, I recount feelings of being unseen and undesired in a time where marginalized genders had little mainstream representation, and Blackness was seen as less desirable. The titular song Paper Tiger explores the multitudes and complexities of gender expansiveness– the music throughout the work straddles several genre lines including hip/trip-hop, contemporary classical, and hyperpop. The final song Metalloid celebrates the joy to be had in “trans-ness” and gender nonconformity– in the ability to continually create oneself: “I can be anyone / I can be anything.”
Inspired by the theme of visibility in my composition, Sean made a film about the struggle for acceptance and wanting to be seen in a world crowded by conformity. Using a range of expressive dances, emotions and abstract sets, they chart a frustrating, repetitive, confusing, euphoric, twisting path towards finding the strength to be oneself during a day in the life of our lead character.
We Need To Talk
Music - Caroline Shaw
Text - Anne Carson
Director - Maureen Towey
Soprano - Ariadne Greif
Filmmakers - Four/Ten Media
Creative Producer - Sarah Williams
The film creates an environment filled with tension and energy, amplified by Shaw’s inclusion of electronic composition and sampling of old film scores. A young woman is in conversation with herself, reminiscent of our isolated days of quarantine: days of frustration, joy, and grief
Text - Anne Carson
Director - Maureen Towey
Soprano - Ariadne Greif
Filmmakers - Four/Ten Media
Creative Producer - Sarah Williams
The film creates an environment filled with tension and energy, amplified by Shaw’s inclusion of electronic composition and sampling of old film scores. A young woman is in conversation with herself, reminiscent of our isolated days of quarantine: days of frustration, joy, and grief
Cycles of My Being
Music - Tyshawn Sorey
Poems - Terrance Hayes
Tenor - Lawrence Brownlee
Violin - Randal Mitsuo Goosby
Cello - Khari Joyner
Clarinet - Alexander Laing
Piano - Myra Huang
Creative Director & Producer - Sarah Williams
A song cycle that centers on what it means to be a Black man living in America today.
Co-commissioned with Carnegie Hall and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Poems - Terrance Hayes
Tenor - Lawrence Brownlee
Violin - Randal Mitsuo Goosby
Cello - Khari Joyner
Clarinet - Alexander Laing
Piano - Myra Huang
Creative Director & Producer - Sarah Williams
A song cycle that centers on what it means to be a Black man living in America today.
Co-commissioned with Carnegie Hall and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Save the Boys
Music - Tyshawn Sorey
Text - Francis Ellen Watkins Harper
Countertenor - John Holiday
Inspired by “Save the Boys,” an 1887 poem by abolitionist, writer and Black women’s rights activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
Text - Francis Ellen Watkins Harper
Countertenor - John Holiday
Inspired by “Save the Boys,” an 1887 poem by abolitionist, writer and Black women’s rights activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
The Listeners
Music - Missy Mazzoli
Text - Royce Vavrek
Director - Lileana Blain Cruz
The Listeners examines the lengths to which we, as Americans, are willing to go to find a sense of place and purpose, and the way in which confident, charming leaders can exploit these needs to their own ends.
Co-Commissioned with Norwegian National Opera & Ballet and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Text - Royce Vavrek
Director - Lileana Blain Cruz
The Listeners examines the lengths to which we, as Americans, are willing to go to find a sense of place and purpose, and the way in which confident, charming leaders can exploit these needs to their own ends.
Co-Commissioned with Norwegian National Opera & Ballet and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
10 Days in a Madhouse
Music - Rene Orth
Text - Hannah Moscovitch
Director - Joanna Settle
Sound Designer - Robert Kaplowitz
Creative Producer - Sarah Williams
Is she insane? Or just pretending? This psychological drama follows trailblazing reporter Nellie Bly through her internment at Blackwell's Asylum, exposing, as Bly did, notions of madness and societal biases against women.
Co-Commissioned with Tapestry Opera.
Text - Hannah Moscovitch
Director - Joanna Settle
Sound Designer - Robert Kaplowitz
Creative Producer - Sarah Williams
Is she insane? Or just pretending? This psychological drama follows trailblazing reporter Nellie Bly through her internment at Blackwell's Asylum, exposing, as Bly did, notions of madness and societal biases against women.
Co-Commissioned with Tapestry Opera.
Glass Handel
Music - Handel & Glass
World-renowned countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and art and fashion publication Visionaire, create a multimedia installation. Combining music, fashion, live painting, dance, and film, it premiered in a sold-out run at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
For the installation, Costanzo and the orchestra perform on a stage. Behind them, artist George Condo paints on a semi-transparent scrim in real time to the music; ballet stars David Hallberg and Patricia Delgado perform a dance choreographed by Tony Award winner Justin Peck, the resident choreographer of the New York City Ballet; wardrobe by CALVIN KLEIN, in costumes designed by the brand’s Chief Creative Officer, Raf Simons; and screens stream a series of music videos synced to play along with the songs Costanzo performs.
“Music videos,” incorporated into the installation and shareable online directed by filmmakers James Ivory and Pix Talarico, Daniel Askill, Mark Romanek, Rupert Sanders; the duo behind Toiletpaper Magazine Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari; painter Mickalene Thomas; multi-disciplinary collective AES+F; and actress Marisa Tomei.
Each audience member’s chair is wheeled to a different part of the space at least once during the show. The people movers, as they are called, wheel audience members every 10-15 minutes. While one audience member experiences a music video, another will experience it as a dance. But the audience member who sees, say, Patricia Delgado dance “Liquid Days” at the beginning of the program will have a very different experience from the person who sees David Hallberg dance the same choreography to wildly different music at the end of the program. Repetition is not the same.
World-renowned countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and art and fashion publication Visionaire, create a multimedia installation. Combining music, fashion, live painting, dance, and film, it premiered in a sold-out run at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
For the installation, Costanzo and the orchestra perform on a stage. Behind them, artist George Condo paints on a semi-transparent scrim in real time to the music; ballet stars David Hallberg and Patricia Delgado perform a dance choreographed by Tony Award winner Justin Peck, the resident choreographer of the New York City Ballet; wardrobe by CALVIN KLEIN, in costumes designed by the brand’s Chief Creative Officer, Raf Simons; and screens stream a series of music videos synced to play along with the songs Costanzo performs.
“Music videos,” incorporated into the installation and shareable online directed by filmmakers James Ivory and Pix Talarico, Daniel Askill, Mark Romanek, Rupert Sanders; the duo behind Toiletpaper Magazine Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari; painter Mickalene Thomas; multi-disciplinary collective AES+F; and actress Marisa Tomei.
Each audience member’s chair is wheeled to a different part of the space at least once during the show. The people movers, as they are called, wheel audience members every 10-15 minutes. While one audience member experiences a music video, another will experience it as a dance. But the audience member who sees, say, Patricia Delgado dance “Liquid Days” at the beginning of the program will have a very different experience from the person who sees David Hallberg dance the same choreography to wildly different music at the end of the program. Repetition is not the same.
We Shall Not Be Moved
Music - Daniel Bernard Roumain
Libretto - Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Director/Dramaturge/Choreographer - Bill T. Jones
On the run after a series of tragic incidents, five North Philly teens find refuge in an abandoned, condemned house in West Philadelphia at the exact location that served as headquarters of the MOVE organization, where a 1985 standoff with police infamously ended with a neighborhood destroyed and 11 people dead, including five children. This self-defined family is assuaged and even inspired by the ghosts who inhabit this home and begin to see their squatting as a matter of destiny and resistance rather than urgent fear.
Co-commissioned with The Apollo Theater and Hackney Empire.
Libretto - Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Director/Dramaturge/Choreographer - Bill T. Jones
On the run after a series of tragic incidents, five North Philly teens find refuge in an abandoned, condemned house in West Philadelphia at the exact location that served as headquarters of the MOVE organization, where a 1985 standoff with police infamously ended with a neighborhood destroyed and 11 people dead, including five children. This self-defined family is assuaged and even inspired by the ghosts who inhabit this home and begin to see their squatting as a matter of destiny and resistance rather than urgent fear.
Co-commissioned with The Apollo Theater and Hackney Empire.
The Wake World
Music - David Hertzberg
Director - R.B. Schlather
*Winner of the Music Critics Association of North America Award
*Nominated for an International Opera Award
The Wake World is a hallucinatory choral fantasy. Based on a mystical fairy tale written by Aleister Crowley whilst under the influence of the Golden Dawn, the story describes an ecstatic journey of initiation through Hermetic runes, as Lola is lead by her fairy prince through a magical palace to enlightenment.
Director - R.B. Schlather
*Winner of the Music Critics Association of North America Award
*Nominated for an International Opera Award
The Wake World is a hallucinatory choral fantasy. Based on a mystical fairy tale written by Aleister Crowley whilst under the influence of the Golden Dawn, the story describes an ecstatic journey of initiation through Hermetic runes, as Lola is lead by her fairy prince through a magical palace to enlightenment.
Denis & Katya
Music - Phillip Venables
Director & Text - Ted Huffman
They could have been your teenage children, best friends, or classmates. Two beautiful 15-year-olds who lived every moment−including their last−online. What led to their violent deaths? Why did they choose to broadcast their final moments on social media? And what does it say about the voyeuristic society who watched, liked, and objectified them, transforming two kids into clickbait?
Co-commissioned with Music Theater Wales and Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier
"An intimate, haunting triumph." - The New York Times
*Winner of the Fedora Generali Prize
*International Opera Award Finalist
They could have been your teenage children, best friends, or classmates. Two beautiful 15-year-olds who lived every moment−including their last−online. What led to their violent deaths? Why did they choose to broadcast their final moments on social media? And what does it say about the voyeuristic society who watched, liked, and objectified them, transforming two kids into clickbait?
The work uses verbatim text to examine the vast public response to the events surrounding the tragedy of Russian runaways Denis Muravyov and Katya Vlasova, exploring how stories are shaped and shared in our age of trolls, conspiracy theories, fake news, and 24/7 digital connection.
Director & Text - Ted Huffman
They could have been your teenage children, best friends, or classmates. Two beautiful 15-year-olds who lived every moment−including their last−online. What led to their violent deaths? Why did they choose to broadcast their final moments on social media? And what does it say about the voyeuristic society who watched, liked, and objectified them, transforming two kids into clickbait?
Co-commissioned with Music Theater Wales and Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier
"An intimate, haunting triumph." - The New York Times
*Winner of the Fedora Generali Prize
*International Opera Award Finalist
They could have been your teenage children, best friends, or classmates. Two beautiful 15-year-olds who lived every moment−including their last−online. What led to their violent deaths? Why did they choose to broadcast their final moments on social media? And what does it say about the voyeuristic society who watched, liked, and objectified them, transforming two kids into clickbait?
The work uses verbatim text to examine the vast public response to the events surrounding the tragedy of Russian runaways Denis Muravyov and Katya Vlasova, exploring how stories are shaped and shared in our age of trolls, conspiracy theories, fake news, and 24/7 digital connection.
Breaking the Waves
Music - Missy Mazzoli
Libretto - Royce Vavrek
Director - James Darrah
Conductor - Steven Osgood
"Breaking the Waves is among the best produced operas of the 21st century." - Opera News
Breaking the Waves is based on the 1996 Academy Award-nominated film by Lars von Trier. Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early 1970s, Breaking the Waves tells the story of Bess McNeill, a religious young woman with a deep love for her husband Jan, a handsome oil rig worker. When Jan becomes paralyzed in an off-shore accident, Bess’s marital vows are put to the test as he encourages her to seek other lovers and return to his bedside to tell him of her sexual activities. He insists that the stories will feel like they are making love together and keep him alive. Bess’s increasing selflessness leads to a finale of divine grace, but at great cost.
Libretto - Royce Vavrek
Director - James Darrah
Conductor - Steven Osgood
"Breaking the Waves is among the best produced operas of the 21st century." - Opera News
Breaking the Waves is based on the 1996 Academy Award-nominated film by Lars von Trier. Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early 1970s, Breaking the Waves tells the story of Bess McNeill, a religious young woman with a deep love for her husband Jan, a handsome oil rig worker. When Jan becomes paralyzed in an off-shore accident, Bess’s marital vows are put to the test as he encourages her to seek other lovers and return to his bedside to tell him of her sexual activities. He insists that the stories will feel like they are making love together and keep him alive. Bess’s increasing selflessness leads to a finale of divine grace, but at great cost.
Collaborations
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