Michael Sahl (1934–2018) was an American composer, pianist, and music director born in Boston. He moved to New York in 1942 and began studying with Israel Citkowitz in 1947. Sahl earned degrees from Amherst College (1955) and Princeton University (1957) under Milton Babbitt and Roger Sessions. On a Fulbright fellowship, he studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence. During the 1960s, Sahl composed film scores and was a creative associate at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He served as music director for Judy Collins (1968–1969) and WBAI-FM (1972–1973). Sahl collaborated with Eric Salzman on music theater works including The Conjuror (1975) and Civilization and Its Discontents (1977), which won the Prix Italia. His compositions include the opera The Passion of Simple Simon (1979) and the piece “Jungles” (1992). Sahl co-authored the book Making Changes: A Practical Guide to Vernacular Harmony (1977). He died in New York City on March 29, 2018.
