The Canadian Opera Company's fall season opens Saturday night with Verdi's Il Trovatore, which has some of the most famous choruses in opera. Sandra Horst is the chorus master at the COC, a role that makes her privy to the action both onstage and behind the scenes. As host of This Is My Music she reveals that Richard Bradshaw, late conductor of the COC, occasionally snuck into the chorus to sing along.
Her love of music and theatre began in Osler, Saskatchewan. As a teenager Horst played piano for her high school production of The Music Man. Even earlier, when she was in grade five, she was recruited as pianist to the grade seven choir.
Horst is a pianist, vocal coach and conductor, and has worked with opera companies in Boston, St. Louis, Edmonton and Toronto. She was a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Currently she also is the head coach at the University of Toronto's opera division.
Sandra Horst hosts This Is My Music on Saturday, Sept. 29 on CBC Radio 2, 10:05 a.m. to noon ET, 11:05 to 1:00 p.m. AT.
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