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The American soprano and voices teacher, Kristin Sands, studied at Bernards High School (1990-1994). As a soprano, she was touring throughout Europe with the critically acclaimed Bernardsville High School Madrigal Ensemble before ever attending Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1998 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance (1994-1998). In the interim years, she sang with The Westminster Symphonic Choir, sharing the stage with Thomas Hampson, Jerry Hadley, and Carol Vaness, in performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem (recorded with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Kurt Masur, on the Teldec label), L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (for the highly anticipated opening of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra), and Orff's Carmina Burana (with the Philadelphia Orchestra) just to name a few. As a member of the Westminster Choir, she appeared in numerous choral performances, including the J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245), J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243), Verdi's Requiem, and in the opera choruses of Alban Berg's Wozzeck and Janacek's Jenufa for Spoleto festival, USA.
After graduating in the spring of 1998, Kristin Sands joined the women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir and the Berliner Philharmoniker at Carnegie Hall in performance of works by Gustav Mahler and Debussy, under the baton of Claudio Abbado. In 2012, she enjoyed returning to Carnegie Hall for the New York City premiere of Vladimir Pleshakov's sacred Orthodox choral work, performing in the opera chorus at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the Mark Morris Dance Company, being broadcast on WWFM through Trinity Wall Street's Bach at One concert series, and giving the world premiere performance of choral works by Ivo Antognini, Matthew Brown, and Paul Mealor. She has also performed in many of the most treasured concert halls and cathedrals with the critically acclaimed Westminster Choir, Westminster Symphonic Choir, Vox Vocal Ensemble, Trinity Wall Street Choir, Fuma Sacra, and Aeode Consort. Under the baton of distinguished conductors Joseph Flummerfelt, Kurt Masur, Zdenek Macal, Claudio Abbado, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Andrew Megill, George Steel, Owen Burdick, Joel Revzin, and Glenn Parker, she has performed a wide range of repertoire, solo, choral, and operatic, representing the early Renaissance to modern compositions. Many performances have been broadcast live on radio and television; multiple recordings are available through the Naxos, Teldec, MSR Classics and Delos labels.
For the past 17 years, Kristin Sands, a co-founding member, has performed, competed, toured, and recorded with the internationally acclaimed Antioch Chamber Ensemble, a professional choral ensemble comprised of 12 singers Antioch Chamber Ensemble's most recent available recordings, "Though Love Be A Day" through the Acis label, and "The Passing of the Year," through the MSR Classics label. As a member of the all-professional Trinity Wall Street Choir, New York City from 2000 to 2003, she is featured in the Naxos recordings of the complete set of Haydn Masses. She may also be heard on the Christmas at Trinity recording.
Kristin Sands maintains a successful private classical voice and piano studio in the home she shares with her husband, tenor Stephen Sands, and their daughter Micaela. She teaches approximately 25 students on a weekly basis, creatively encouraging their musicianship with a solid grounding in classical technique. She uses various methods to reach students with many different learning styles, including many creative visual and tactile teaching aids. Some of her former voice students, interested in pursuing a music major in college, have been accepted into The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Eastman Conservatory, University of Colorado, and Gettysburg College, just to name a few. Kristin belongs to the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and encourages her voice students to consider the benefit of preparing repertoire for performance in the annual Doris Lenz Festival for High School Singers. |
