Saint Thomas Girl Chorister Course 2011 - Staff Directory
Sarah MacDonald
Music Director
Sarah MacDonald came to the UK from her native Canada in 1992 as Organ Scholar of
Robinson College, Cambridge, after studying piano, organ, singing, and conducting at the
Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she was a student of Leon Fleisher,
Marek Jablonski, and John Tuttle.
Sarah read for a degree in Music at Cambridge, taking her BA in 1995 and her MA in
1999. She studied the organ with David Sanger. She was appointed Director of Music in
Chapel at Selwyn College in 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an
Oxbridge Chapel. Sarah has played numerous recitals in venues including Vancouver,
Toronto, Honolulu, Ely, Chelmsford, and Westminster Cathedrals, and has made over 25
recordings, variously in the guises of pianist, organist, conductor, and producer. She has
conducted choirs on tours throughout the UK, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand,
and Canada, has broadcast live on BBC Radio and on Canadian television, and is a
winner of the RCO Limpus Prize. Sarah has taught organ and conducting for Eton Choral
Courses, Oundle for Organists, the Jennifer Bate Organ Academy, and courses run by the
Royal College of Organists (RCO); she is a regular Director of the St Thomas Church
Fifth Avenue (New York City) Girls' Chorister Course, and has given numerous choral
workshops for both professional and amateur choirs in the UK and North America. In
Cambridge, Sarah has taught and examined for the University Music Faculty and for
many years ran the University's Inter-Collegiate Organ and Choral Scholarships
Competitions. Sarah is a Fellow and a Trustee of the RCO, and is also a member of the
Academic Board. She is also Director of Ely Cathedral Girls'Choir.