Choral Music

With a compositional voice grounded in triadic harmonies, Sandford's choral works paint text with music both modern and accessible. Seeking to craft pieces that are simple yet distinct, his attention to the inherent rhythms in the text allows words and music to intertwine organically. Subtle dissonance, shifting meters, and use of modal melodies and harmonies are among his favorite musical ingredients.

Influenced by plainchant, Sandford loves to showcase the expressiveness of the human voice through lyrical lines written for every vocal part. Renaissance polyphony, hymnody, and musical theater have all shaped his musical language, as has the music of Vaughan Williams, Schubert, Faure, Durufle, Quilter, Rutter, and Lauridsen. Although he also composes chamber and orchestral music, above all he loves setting text of all varieties, from biblical and medieval sources, to Shakespeare and e.e. cummings, to living poets Anna George Meek, Wendell Berry, and Malcolm Guite. His compositions and arrangements can be found in English, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Spanish, and Yiddish.

Sandford holds a composition degree from the Hartt School, and has completed summer programs in choral conducting, choral pedagogy, and choral composition at Westminster Choir College and Oxford University. In 2024 he was named a finalist by The American Prize in both major choral works and shorter choral works categories. He has pieces published by Boosey & Hawkes and GIA Music but self-publishes most of his work.