Cheryl Anderson, Director

Cheryl Anderson is the Director of Choral Activities at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California.  In her 16­year tenure at Cabrillo College, her ensembles have performed at all levels of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the National Association for Music Educators (MENC); she has led Interest Sessions at four Divisional Conferences, and she has served on the ACDA Western Division Board as National Repertoire & Standards Chair.  Currently serving as Bay Area Representative, California, ACDA Executive Board and Chair of the Composition Competition, Ms. Anderson has most recently been honored to be elected as President of the Western Division of the American Choral Directors Association.  In addition to her elementary and secondary school teaching, she has served on the faculties of Transylvania University, Colorado State University, University of Northern Colorado, and University of California, Santa Cruz in choral/vocal music, music education, and music theory. 

At Cabrillo College she is Founder/Director of Cabrillo Youth Chorus Project, Cabrillo Opera, Voice Master Class, and Renaissance Consort.  She has received the Board of Governors' Meritorious Teaching Award, has been named to Who's Who six times, and routinely receives the Alpha Gamma Sigma student award for Outstanding Teaching.

The Symphonic Chorus traveled to the East Coast in Summer 2007 to sing the New York premiere of “The Peace of Wild Things”, composed by Imant Raminsh and commissioned this year for the Cabrillo Choral Program and Ensemble Monterey. This new work for adult choir, children’s choir and orchestra features the poetry of Morton Marcus, e. e. cummings and Wendell Berry.

She has conducted Cantiamo! and Symphonic Chorus in performances of Bach's Mass in B-minor and St. Matthew Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart's Requiem, Lou Harrison's La Koro Sutro, and Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610.

Her choirs have performed for the American Choral Directors Association and Music Educators National Conference to broad acclaim. They have performed Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, John Adams’ Harmonium, Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light, and Lou Harrison's Strict Songs with the world-renowned Cabrillo Music Festival.

She has led Cantiamo! and Symphonic Chorus on tours to Eastern Europe, Italy, and Spain, Germany and Russia. She has conducted Carmina Burana with the Teplice Symphony, Czech Republic, and the L’viv Philharmonic, Krakow, Poland, and has conducted the Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra in Verdi’s Stabat Mater and Ave Maria and Poulenc's Gloria.

Ms. Anderson received her AB from West Liberty State College, her MME from the University of Northern Colorado, and her doctoral work was done at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, specializing in Conducting and Voice Performance. For seven years, she was the Choral Director at the Breckenridge Music Institute in Colorado. She has served on the music faculties of the University of Northern Colorado, Colorado State University, Transylvania University, Cumberland College, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Ms. Anderson was a Conducting Fellow at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmuth Rilling, and performed numerous times with the Robert Shaw Institute in Carnegie Hall. Ms. Anderson also directs the music program at the First Congregational Church in Santa Cruz. Ms. Anderson is a frequent clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor across the United States. She has been twice named to "Who's Who In America," and was recently given the "Meritorious Teaching Award" from the Cabrillo Board of Governors. She is a soprano with an active voice studio.