Sara Ontaneda

Sara Ontaneda is an Ecuadorian-American singer-songwriter based in New York City. Her music mixes Folk, R&B, and South-American rhythms. 

Sara discovered her passion for music at a young age. At age 7 she started piano lessons and at age 9 she joined her school's choir in Miami, Florida. At age 13, she moved to Guayaquil, Ecuador where she learned that she was serious about music. She studied classical music in the conservatories in Guayaquil and at the same time discovered she enjoyed contemporary music as well. Sara joined jazz and bossa nova bands which led her to perform in important Ecuadorian venues like Diva Nicotina, Teatro Centro de Arte, and Teatro Sanchez Aguilar. It was during her teens that she began her singer-songwriter phase, and recorded/produced her songs at a mentor's home studio, Susy Nickel Productions. 

The love for music placed her in Berklee College of Music where she majored in Contemporary Writing and Production. She graduated with honors and received scholarship awards for her efforts. 

In August 2014, Sara released her single "Pero Hoy",  under the CVRA LVDORVM (Ecuador) label. The song is available in Itunes, Spotify and other musical platforms, and is played constantly in Ecuadorian radios.

After a year of hard work, Sara finished her first EP, "Marte y Júpiter" where she took the roles of writer, recording engineer, and producer. The EP was released on July 14th, 2015 and is available in Itunes and Spotify as well as other platforms. It received numerous positive reviews from journals in Latin America and Spain. This led Sara to tour in Ecuador as well as many cities of the US, including festivals like South By Southwest (SXSW 2017), Outside The Box Boston, South Florida Folk Festival, and others. 

On March 2017, Sara released her debut album, "Entre Espacios y Colores" which includes 4 songs in English and 5 in Spanish. Sonically, the album blends South-American, R&B, and Alternative elements and is often described as Nu-Latin. The album has been reviewed positvely in many journals of the US and Latin-America. The Huffington Post rates 'Entre Espacios y Colores' as "an excellent album overall, with mainstream appeal... there’s no fluff, just great Nu-Latin jazz music. And Sara’s voice is not to be missed." Sara continues to tour in the US as well as Latin America as her fan base continues to grow.