Stephen M. Sano is Professor and Chair of the Department of Music, and the Harold C. Schmidt Director of Choral Studies at Stanford University, where he directs the Stanford Chamber Chorale and Symphonic Chorus. He holds master's and doctoral degrees in both orchestral and choral conducting from Stanford, and a bachelor's degree in piano performance and theory from San Jose State University. Professor Sano has served on the conducting faculty of the Wilkes University Encore Music Festival of Pennsylvania, and regularly appears as guest conductor of the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra. He has studied at the Tanglewood Music Center and is in frequent demand as a master class teacher, conductor, and adjudicator in choral music. To date, he has taught master classes and conducted festival, honor, and collegiate choirs from over 20 states as well as choirs from Germany, Austria, England, Canada, Australia and Japan. His choirs have performed collaboratively with some of the world's leading artists including Britain's Tallis Scholars, Joyful Company of Singers, and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, Chatham Baroque, the National Gallery of Art Chamber Players, as well as with master flamenco guitarist Paco Pena and the Kronos Quartet. A dedicated educator, Dr. Sano was recipient of the 2005 Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Stanford. As a pianist, Dr. Sano has won numerous piano competitions, served as accompanist to many leading artists visiting the Bay Area, and as harpsichordist with the International Chamber Orchestra of Rome. His recordings in choral music can be heard on the Arsis Audio, Pictoria Records, and Stanford University labels. In the area of non-Western musics, Professor Sano's interests include Hawaiian choral music, the music of Queen Lili‘uokalani, ki ho‘alu (Hawaiian slack key guitar) and North American Taiko (Japanese American drumming). He is a recorded ki ho‘alu artist on the Daniel Ho Creations label, and his duet recordings with master slack key artist Ozzie Kotani have been nominated for both the prestigious Na Hoku Hanohano Award (finalist, 2002) and the Hawaiian Music Award (2004). His most recent slack key recording, "Songs from the Taro Patch" was on the preliminary ballot for the 2008 Grammy Awards.
"It is difficult to believe that any choral group anywhere is capable of performing better than the Stanford chorus under the direction of Stephen M. Sano."
Keith Kreitman
San Mateo County Times
"Wonderful music making! Sano is a gifted conductor, evident in an intense engagement with his charges: the musicians responded to this attention with wide-eyed musical acuity."
Paul Cummings
The Independent
"...a tour de force of choral technique [that] gives me unbounded delight."
Dr. John Bertalot
Choirmaster Emeritus, Blackburn Cathedral, U.K.