Fincastle / Botetourt County, Virginia
Botetourt Music Academy has been open since the Fall 2021, and now offers choirs for students ages 5 through adult. Focused on building community, all are welcome to join together in song, from every faith, every school, every home. Training will include music theory, sight-singing, healthy vocal singing, and teamwork, laying a strong musical foundation that can cross all musical endeavors. The mission behind this choir is to create ambassadors of music–children who learn fluency in music through a foundation of knowing the simplicity of solfege, children who become life-long learners of any subject, and children who will grow into adult concert-goers. Though these choirs are not performance based, members of the choir will have the opportunity to share music at concerts throughout the year. During the academic year, the choirs rehearse on Wednesdays at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Fincastle. Scholarships are available. To register for the Botetourt Music Academy, please select Registration from the Botetourt Music Academy menu. Any inquiries can be directed to music@stmarksfincastle.org.
Lisa Uotinen, Collaborative Pianist, studied piano in high school and at Wheaton College. After college, she joined the Music and Dance Staff at Colonial Williamsburg and performed solo and ensemble Baroque and Classical music on the harpsichord in recitals, concerts and educational programs. After receiving a Master’s in Education from Virginia Tech, she taught Work and Family Studies for Roanoke County middle and high schoolers. She is currently the pianist for Church of the Transfiguration in Fincastle. She is married to Karl and has 3 children. They live in Botetourt County.
Returning to her native Virginia and living in Botetourt County, Anna de Groot-Preston, Artistic Director, delights in her life as a teacher, an accompanist, a vocal coach, and a conductor. A seasoned teacher of 27 years, Anna has served on the piano faculty of Westminster Conservatory as well as Shenandoah University’s Arts Academy. Anna has accompanied choirs along the east coast and as far west as Michigan, including The American Boychoir, The Princeton GirlChoir, Princeton ProMusica, and the choirs at Interlochen Arts Camp. In addition, she has loved collaborating with conductors across the world at honors choir events for the American Choral Director Association. Anna received a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance from James Madison University. Before moving to Botetourt County, Anna lived in Princeton, New Jersey, continuing her musical studies at Westminster Choir College. She completed two Masters of Music degrees at WCC; Piano Performance and Pedagogy in addition to Piano Accompanying and Vocal Coaching. Currently, Anna is pleased to collaborate with Opera Roanoke as an accompanist and vocal coach. Anna has a Piano Studio of 12 wonderful students. Commencing her eighth year, she serves on the board for Woman, Cradle of Abundance, a non-profit that empowers women in the Congo. For four years, Anna has been the Minister of Music at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Fincastle and is thrilled to have successfully launched Botetourt Music Academy. BMA has brought beauty to the Roanoke Valley, and has collaborated with Southwest Virginis Ballet, and Opera Roanoke. Broadening her support and encouragement of the youth in our community, Anna is the Vice President of The Thursday Morning Music Club, and oversees the Junior Club, creating events to enrich their musical experience. Most of all, Anna greatly enjoys being a mom of four extraordinary children.
Jeffrey Sandborg, Conductor, held the Naomi Brandon and George Emery Wade Professorship in Choral Music and was Director of Choral Activities from 1985 to 2023. He was director of the Roanoke College Choir and the founder and director of the Oriana Singers. For thirteen years Sandborg was director of the Roanoke Valley Choral Society, later becoming the Roanoke Symphony Chorus. Additionally, he has been choir director at Second Presbyterian Church since 1987. His conducting credits of major choral/orchestral works with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra include Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor and Handel’s Messiah. He has also led the Roanoke Valley Choral Society and Orchestra in performances of J. S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, and the Requiems of Joonas Kokkonen and Andrew Lloyd Webber. In 2015, he conducted the Roanoke College Choir in performances of Duruflé’s Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Sandborg remains active as a clinician, adjudicator, arranger, composer and choral scholar. His instructional video, focusing on the fundamentals of singing, Make a Joyful and Beautiful Noise! has been used widely as a teaching resource in North America and abroad. He is the author of English Ways: Interviews with English Choral Conductors along with numerous articles on choral and vocal literature and practice. Dr. Sandborg holds the B.A. from Knox College (Illinois), the M.M. in Voice and the D.M.A. in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
