About Sandra

Born into a musical family, Sandra learnt the piano from an early age and later undertook studies in voice with Sheila Knudson, Lauren Hannay and Margaret Nickson.

She is a graduate of the University of New England where she undertook majors in Musicology and Ethno-musicology, and completed her teaching qualifications. She later read for a Masters degree in choral conducting at the University of Queensland under Dr Ed Bolkovac. Sandra holds several performance qualifications from both Trinity College and the Australian Music Examinations Board. She has experience as a classroom music teacher in both the primary and secondary sectors, and manages her own music teaching practice, specialising in piano and voice. Most recently, she has turned her hand to composing, with a particular interest in choral music.

During her long involvement with choral singing and conducting Sandra has won awards for her achievements in both areas. After completing her masters degree, Sandra worked part-time at the University of Queensland, lecturing in the Master’s Degree Program as well as the Summer Music Program. During that time she conducted the university’s premiere choir Concentus.

From 1995 to 2008, Sandra was on the staff of Queensland Youth Choir Inc, conducting several of their ensembles. In 1998 she became musical director of the senior ensemble VoiceWorks and in 2006 was appointed as  the inaugural QYC Artistic Director. Currently, Sandra is the musical director of the Blackstone-Ipswich Cambrian Choir and the Bayside Divas, and conducts two junior choirs at Cannon Hill Anglican College.

Sandra has had extensive experience in music theatre both as a performer and a musical director. Her credits include Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Man of La Mancha and the world premiere amateur production of Chess.

A highly proficient accompanist, Sandra has worked with choirs, small ensembles and solo performers in Australia, England, Finland and the USA.

Sandra is in demand as an adjudicator and workshop clinician, working extensively within Australia and also overseas. In 1996, Sandra established the choral program for the annual Northern Territory Youth Music Camp and has conducted workshops for the Queensland Early Music Society, the Canberra Choral Society and various school and community choirs. In November 2001 she was invited to visit Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China as guest conductor at the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) Choir Festival. In January 2002, she travelled to Finland to present a series of choral workshops and lectures on Australian choral music at several leading tertiary institutions and also to continue her Finnish choral repertoire research and language studies. In 2003 she presented a paper on Australian choral music at The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium IV in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

In 2001, Sandra was awarded a Churchill Fellowship that provided her with the opportunity to further her studies in choral conducting, vocal/choral pedagogy and the management of youth and women's choirs. During this time she visited 56 choirs in England, Sweden, Finland, the United States of America and Canada, working with and observing many internationally acclaimed choral music experts.

Her Churchill Fellowship experiences awakened in Sandra a creative urge to commit her own choral music ideas to paper. Sandra’s first composition, written on her way back to Australia, was dedicated to Patty Hennings and the Peninsula Women’s Chorus of San Francisco. Patty’s zest for life, deep sense of care and compassion, and passionate belief in the power of music had a profound influence on Sandra, as in fact it did on all people with whom she came in contact. Sandra was also greatly impressed by the choral traditions and performances of the choirs she visited in Finland. On her return to Australia she commenced Finnish language studies and returned to Finland the following year to further her language skills and to renew her Finnish choir associations.

Sandra spent further time in Finland in early 2003 and 2004, where she worked with a number of noted Finnish composers including Harri Wessman, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Jyrki Linjama and Juhani Komulainen.

Sandra has now achieved international recognition as an Australian composer specialising in choral music. Whilst she displays a particular interest in Finnish music, her compositions also demonstrate strong Australian influence that reflects her interests in indigenous languages, eclectic influences and texts by contemporary Australian writers. Her works have a fresh melodic and harmonic approach, which translates well to her preferred vocal medium. Her works have been performed by choirs in Scandinavia, Western Europe, the United Kingdom, North America, south-east Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

Sandra has her own choral music series – Choral Vivace – which is published by Edition Peters London. She also has a collection of mainly a cappella works in English, Finnish and Latin that is published by the Finnish company Sulasol.

Sandra has a strong interest in and commitment to, providing music education for conductors, fostering youth choirs and developing initiatives to ensure that choral music maintains a high cultural and community profile in Australia. She is also committed to enhancing the awareness of Australia’s choral music profile in overseas countries. Sandra has served as a member of the State Council of the Music Teacher’s Association of Qld and as a committee member of the Australian National Choral Association’s Queensland Chapter and is a regular contributor to ANCA Notes and A Chorus Line, writing on vocal technique and choral pedagogy.

As a conductor she has produced a number of highly acclaimed choral recordings including the premiere Australian recordings of the Ramirez Misa Criolla and Navidad Nuestra, a collection of new Australian Music titled New Leaves, and A Cambrian Collection – an eclectic collection of repertoire from around the world.

Short Bio

A short biography, suitable for inclusion in programs, is available for download as either a Word document or PDF file. Please click on the relevant icon below.

Short Bio in pdf format (72KB)

Short Bio as Word document (37KB)

Credits

Biography & Credits