Sanford Dole

A Bay Area native and resident of Oakland, California, I am Music Director at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco and Artistic Director of Bay Choral Guild, a community choir based in Palo Alto. You can learn more about these organizations by clicking on the icons below.

Since 1991 I have also been presenting occasional concerts of the Sanford Dole Ensemble, focusing on contemporary music for voices and instruments. Over the years I have sung professionally with organizations such as Chanticleer, San Francisco Symphony and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, among others.

I’m also a composer. My catalogue contains mostly choral works and solo songs as that is the world I live in. I’ve written many anthems for St. Gregory’s Choir and longer works for Bay Choral Guild as well as a chamber opera, “Gertrude and Alice: Scenes from a Shared Life” for CMASH. I have received several commissions as well. Commissioning organizations include the Oakland Symphony Chorus (“The Fabric of Peace,” a 35-minute cantata for chorus and piano), Pacific Mozart Ensemble (“Water: Making Everything New,” for 8-part choir), Chanticleer (“I Am With You” and others. Some of my works are published by Santa Barbara Music and Church Publishing.

To read more about my life and interests go to the Biography and Personal History pages, or the Resume page. To view and hear some of my compositions go to the Compositions page.