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Sondra Harnes

Artistic Director & Chief Executive Officer

World Children's Choir

Sondra Harnes, Artistic Director & Chief Executive Officer, is a lyric soprano, pianist and conductor. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Southeast Missouri State University. Ms. Harnes' principal voice teachers and coaches were Mary Lou Henry, John Wustman, Pierre Bernac, Bruce Brewer, and John Bullock. She was awarded a full-tuition scholarship by the Juilliard School and received her Master of Music from The Catholic University of America. Ms. Harnes is a winner of many contests and awards, including a National Federation of Music Clubs I.P.F.A.C. opera scholarship, the St. Louis Symphony Young Artist Auditions, the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Auditions, three Minna Kaufmann Ruud Scholarships, the Metropolitan Opera St. Louis District and Midwest Region Auditions, three Metropolitan Opera National Council grants and a diploma from the Concours Internationale de Chants de Paris.

She was appointed as Artist-in-Residence in the St. Paul, Minnesota school system. Ms Harnes has performed on radio and television and has appeared as soloist with numerous symphony orchestras and choral/oratorio societies. She assumed solo performance roles with the Aspen Festival, American Opera Center and the Garden State, St. Paul, Cincinnati and Sokol opera associations. Ms. Hames performed in pops concerts at the United Nations and Carnegie Recital Hall.

Ms. Harnes was one of the first Suzuki Piano teachers in the Washington, DC area and was a founding director of the Greater Washington Suzuki Piano institute. Ms. Harnes has also been a private coach and accompanist for singers associated with the St. Paul, Washington and Metropolitan Opera Associations. She has given private lessons and master classes in voice and Suzuki Piano, and conducted choirs throughout the United States, Canada and Bermuda.

In March of 1990, Ms. Harnes founded the World Children's Choir. She conducts season concerts and special event performances, and has produced five compact disks for the World Children's Choir. Ms. Harnes has also produced three recordings that help children learn to sing:
I Love to Sing Lullabies and Nursery Songs • I Love to Sing Children’s Songs • I Love to Sing Vocalizations