Michael Sandvik
1982 -
Michael Sandvik,
singer, conductor, and composer, teaches music at South Texas Christian
Academy, a position he has held since 2013. Prior to this, he was the choir
director at two Seventh-day Adventist academies.
Michael and his twin brother,
Matthew, were born in Palmer, Alaska, the oldest of three sons of Randolph and
Patti Ausmus Sandvik, both
talented amateur musicians. Their father
is a cornet and French horn player and their mother is a flutist, and both encouraged
the three boys as they pursued music, starting them with piano lessons at an
early age. Music was an important activity in the home and also in the extended
Sandvik family, which includes several accomplished
singers.
Michael attended Auburn
Adventist Academy in Washington, where he sang in the choirs under John Neuman. He was
inspired by that experience and later talked about the effect it had on him:
Growing
up, there were three things I loved to do and those were writing, composing,
and working in art. My activities in these areas varied from time to time, and
once in a while I would get caught up in all three at the same time.
In
high school I found that I just loved this choir thing, especially with the
spiritual dimension that Mr. Neuman stressed. At
first I thought I would like to compose for a living, and then I thought maybe
I might be a conductor like Mr. Neuman. When I went
to Walla Walla University after graduating from Auburn in 2000, I enrolled as a
music education major.
Earlier, Michael had been
intrigued by a blank music score page in the back of one of his beginning piano
books and at age eight began writing short pieces. This activity led over the
next few years to more serious efforts in composing, and by the time he had
graduated from Walla Walla College, now University, in 2006 with a B.Mus.Ed.,
he had written several works for choir, twenty of which were performed by the
college choirs, which he also conducted for three years as a student assistant
director.
After graduating from WWC, he
started his career teaching music at Skagit Adventist Academy in Washington state. In 2010 Sandvik married Heidi Corder, an
accomplished pianist who had completed a B.A. degree in piano at WWC under
Leonard Richter.
The Sandviks
enrolled at Andrews University and completed graduate degrees in 2012, Michael
earning an M.Mus. in choral conducting and Heidi an
M.A. in piano. After a year at
Shenandoah Valley Academy, he accepted a position at South Texas Christian
Academy in McAllen, Texas, where he directs the choir and will also form and
conduct a handbell choir.
ds/2013
Sources:
Information provided by Michael Sandvik in 2007 and
2013; personal knowledge.