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CONDUCTOR

"My job is more to make people so confident in themselves that they can bring their A game. That's the real job of a conductor." - Yannick Nezet-Seguin

Conductor Sarah Maria Leung is known for her gentle yet commanding music direction. She believes in seeing fellow musicians as genuine collaborators. To make music of the highest-possible calibre, she adopts a pedagogical approach in her work at all levels as vocal and musicianship skills are at the heart of good music performance.

 

Equally interested in chamber vocal music and major choral-orchestral works, Sarah is adept in working with forces of any size. As music director at Calvin Presbyterian Church/ Deer Park United Church, she has put together the church's first outdoor concert “Celebrating 10 Years of Sundays Together: Songs & Sundaes with the Neighbourhood” with the 16-voice choir, performing music ranging from Renaissance classics to the contemporary, Broadway tunes and popular music. She has also attended choral-orchestral masterclasses where she studied and conducted Mozart’s Requiem and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with a large choir and chamber orchestra.

 

Sarah’s conducting teachers include Hilary Apfelstadt, Cristian Grases, Uri Mayer (orchestral conducting), Jo-Michael Scheibe, and Tram Sparks.

"Sarah is a most gifted young conductor, a very sensitive artist, excellent technically and musically, a sincere and precise leader... who is able to absorb and interpret complex scores with ease and elegance."

Uri Mayer, Canadian Conductor, Director of Orchestral Studies at University of Toronto

"...[Sarah is] very talented and very skilled as a choral conductor AND as a knowledgeable singer-teacher who has amazingly discerning ears for vocal change. That's a rare combination!"

Darryl Edwards, Associate Professor at University of Toronto (Voice Studies), Vocal Consultant at Toronto Children's Chorus

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CONDUCTING ENGAGEMENTS

  • Calvin Presbyterian Church/ Deer Park United Church, Toronto 
    (2017-present)

    • Music Director​

  • Incontra Vocal Ensemble, Toronto (2015-present)

    • Assistant Conductor​

  • Toronto Children's Chorus (2017-2018)

    • Intern Conductor​

  • Church of the Redeemer (Toronto) (2016-2017)

    • Student Conductor​

  • University of Toronto Women's Chamber Choir (2015-2017)

    • Graduate Student Conductor​

EDUCATION

  • Master of Music, Choral Conducting

    • University of Toronto​

    • David & Marcia Beach Summer Study Award

  • Bachelor of Arts, Choral Music & World History

    • University of Southern California​

    • Choral & Sacred Music Department Award

    • Magna Cum Laude

    • Renaissance Scholar

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TCC at Roy Thompson Hall, Dec 16, 2017 (

MASTERCLASSES

  • Chorus America Conducting Academy 2017, 2018

    • John Alexander, Lucinda Carver, David Hayes, Robert Istad, Duain Wolfe

    • Conducting Scholar

  • ​Sarteano Chamber Choral Conducting Workshop, Italy​

    • Maestro Simon Carrington​

    • Full Conductor

  • Toronto Children's Chorus, Conductor's Workshop

    • Maria Guinand

  • Choral Conducting Symposium, University of Toronto

    • Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt​

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