2023 Choral and Vocal Fest Guest Conductor Biography

Dr. Sandra Snow, Guest Conductor

Snow headshot

As a conductor, pedagogue, and scholar, Sandra Snow is widely acknowledged as one who brings singers of all ages and abilities to artful performance through an understanding of the music and its context in the world around them. As Professor of Choral Conducting and Director of Choral Programs at the Michigan State University College of Music, the MSU Women’s Chamber Ensemble has appeared as featured performers at American Choral Directors Association conventions at state, regional, and national levels. As a guest conductor, she travels extensively in North America and abroad.

In 2017, Snow created mirabai, a project-based professional women’s chorus. mirabai features alumna associated with the MSU Women’s Chamber Ensemble. mirabai was a featured ensemble at the Texas Choral Director’s Association conference in 2018. The inaugural recording, Ecstatic Songs, was released in 2018. mirabai will open the 2020 conference of the Southwest Division of the American Choral Director’s Association.

Snow is the Chair of the MSU Music Education Area and the Artistic Director of the CME Institute for Choral Teacher Education, produced annually at MSU. Snow is the author of the DVD "Conducting-Teaching: Real World Strategies for Success," published by GIA (2009), a resource for conductor-teachers at all levels of teaching. She edits the choral music series In High Voice, published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Snow is a recipient of the Michigan State University William J. Beal Award for Outstanding Faculty, the MSU Teacher-Scholar Award, and the Dortha J. and John D. Withrow Award for Excellence in Teaching.