Sandra Joy Friesen – Piano
Sandra Joy Friesen is a pianist with a broad range of repertoire and musical interests, from traditional to contemporary, to interpretation of pictorial scores and interdisciplinary improvisation. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Canada, in the United States, and several countries in South America and Europe. With a special sensitivity in art song collaboration, Sandra Joy has studied and performed this vast repertoire for more than three decades, including residencies at The Banff Centre (Alberta) and the Franz-Schubert-Institute (Austria). She is the pianist in the duo RESPONS2 with visual artist Werner Friesen, blending music with live-response painting, and integrating artistic disciplines with composers, dancers, and actors. Her 2014 recording Sound Reflections, Vol. 1: Off the Shelf is dedicated to Canadian composers and addresses challenges in contemporary techniques and notation.
A music educator since 1992, Sandra Joy investigates the developments in piano techniques, styles and aesthetics from the 20th-21st centuries and has dedicated a large part of her career to lectures, presentations, workshops and concerts of contemporary music. After 16 years of professional work in British Columbia, she completed the Doctor of Music degree as a scholar of the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies in the University of Alberta. She holds degrees from the University of British Columbia (Master and Bachelor of Music) and Canadian Mennonite University (Bachelor of Church Music). Dr. Friesen was Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano in the Department of Music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota from 2013-2015. She now teaches from her Sound Reflections Music Studio in NW Calgary, and continues to perform a full spectrum of repertoire.