Sayra Siverson, AYO Conductor
Sayra Siverson returns to the podium in her eighth season as Conductor for the Albuquerque Youth Orchestra. She is known for her passionate musicianship and versatile baton technique, as well as her connection with players and audiences. She has been noted for her dedication to creative programming and her focus on educational outreach. Along with her regular season performances and tours, she is active in the community life of Albuquerque, acting as a guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician at local schools and music events.
Recent appearances included orchestral performances at the University of New Mexico and the Brevard Music Center, North Carolina. She was recently invited back for her third summer conducting at the Brevard Music Center, where she worked with renowned composer and conductor Gunther Schuller.
At the New Operfestival di Roma, Ms. Siverson served as Assistant Conductor for Puccini's "Suor Angelica" and Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" under the musical direction of Maestro Stefano Vignati. As Music Director of the Grand Opera Theater, Albuquerque, New Mexico, she led the critically acclaimed production of "The Red Haired Carmen" featuring American tenor Dominique Moralez.
As a champion of new music, Ms. Siverson has commissioned and performed World Premiers by American composers such as Jeremy Hegg and composer and author Dr. Michael Schelle. In 2006, AYSP was the only youth program and one of six US orchestras awarded a composer-in-residence from Music Alive, a project of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer. Through this residency, Ms. Siverson conducted the World Premier of Vox Humana.
Her studies include private instruction from David Effron, Director of Orchestras at the Indiana School of Music, formerly of the Eastman School of Music; and Guillermo Figueroa, Music Director of the Puerto Rico Symphony and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. Instructors have also included Victor Yampolsky, former Principal Second Violin of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Director of Orchestras at Northwestern University; Mariusz Smolij, Music Director of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and Founder of the Penderecki String Quartet; and Kirk Trevor, Music Director and Conductor of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Opera.
Ms. Siverson earned a Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of New Mexico, where she studied with Drs. Jorge Perez-Gomez, Bradley Ellingboe and Eric Rombach-Kendall. Under the guidance of Maestro Perez-Gomez, she served as Assistant Conductor of both the University Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. While studying with Dr. Ellingboe, she served as Assistant Conductor for the University Chorus.
Ms. Siverson is also an accomplished musician on the trumpet. Having served as substitute trumpet with the Santa Fe and New Mexico Symphony Orchestras, she was also a member of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra from 1989 until 1995, under the Direction of Henry Charles Smith. Sayra has performed in ensemble with the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany, and as trumpet soloist with the Augustana Brass in Austria, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. She played at Mexico's Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia, Michoacan, in performances honoring the late Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. A compact disc of Revueltas' music was produced, for which Sayra was one of a select group of musicians chosen to record.
Ms. Siverson was born in South Dakota to a family of musicians. She studied piano, voice and trumpet, earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in May of 1995 from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, double-majoring in Vocal and Instrumental Music Education, with a focus in Conducting. She subsequently moved to Albuquerque where she began her studies at the University of New Mexico.
From 1998-2004 Ms. Siverson taught seven successful years with the Albuquerque Public Schools where she most recently directed the orchestra programs at La Cueva High School, Desert Ridge Middle School and Double Eagle Elementary School. She served as Music Director of the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra from 1997 to 2001 and the Symphony Orchestra of Albuquerque from 1998 to 1999. She has been on staff with the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program since 1998 and has a private trumpet studio.