Diana Sáez
Associate Professor
Biography
Dr. Diana V. Sáez is the Director of Choral Activities at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, directing the University Chorale, Women’s Choir, and Choral Society. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Sáez served as Visiting Choir Director at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and Visiting Choir Conductor at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. Dr. Sáez also directed the Catholic University Women’s Choir for six years and served as artistic director of the World Bank-IMF Chorus for sixteen years.
As a leading specialist in the field of Latin American music, Dr. Sáez is a frequent guest conductor, adjudicator, and lecturer in both the United States and abroad. In the past five years, she has presented at American universities, national and regional ACDA conventions, and various engagements in North and South America. She has also guest conducted at the Festival Distrital de Coros en Bogotá, Colombia and directed regional honor choruses in Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Dr. Sáez is perhaps best known for serving as artistic director of Cantigas, an award-winning chamber choir that she founded with the mission to increase awareness and appreciation of Latin America and Spanish choral music. For 25 years, Cantigas was a principal performer of Latin American music in North America, with appearances at the ACDA Eastern Division Convention, Kennedy Center, and Strathmore Center, as well as international tours in Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In 2014, the choir was awarded the Choral Excellence Award for Most Creative Programming by the Choralis Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Sáez began her musical education at the Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She earned a Master of Choral Conducting from Temple University and a Doctorate in Musical Arts at the University of Maryland, College Park. She also holds a Master of Education from Harvard University.
Her compositions for choir are published by Hal Leonard, Boosey and Hawkes, and the Roger Dean Publishing Company, a division of The Lorenz Corporation. Her academic writings have been published in Maryland Music Educator Journal and in an anthology, Choral Perspectives: Insights from American Choral Conductor-Teachers.
QUOTE:
“In the coming years, I look forward to a choral community where there is no segregation between choruses and where we will embrace choruses of all sizes, styles, and genres. I look forward to when a gospel choir will be as celebrated as a choir performing Bach and to when most choirs will be flexible in tone, able to perform various styles of music with the same level of agility and quality. Most importantly, I look forward to when choirs will look as diverse as our society and all kinds of music will be celebrated and appreciated by all.”