St. Albert Singers Guild

Singing our song, almost 40 years strong!

In 1986, Dr. Lillian Upright formed a choir as an offshoot of her church choir. Two years after she started the choir,Tim Hankewich took over, soon followed by director, Jan Dammann. Then in 1990, Eric Mierau took over as director with his daughter Criselda as accompanist. After a year, Criselda took over and remained as the Guild’s Artistic Director until 2023.

What began as a mixed choir of 24 voices grew to almost 50 singers with many on the waiting list. Eventually the Guild expanded its programming to include six choirs: The St. Albert Singers, The St. Albert Women’s Vocal Ensemble and four children’s choirs. Although the Guild no longer runs the women’s and children’s choirs, our current mixed choir has a membership of 72.

Many of these 72 singers joined the Guild for the first time in the fall of 2023, as we welcomed our new Artistic Director, Caroline Crispin. An enthusiastic music teacher and accomplished musician, Caroline has been warmly welcomed into the SASG community. She brings a community focus and a desire to share music with all ages and levels of experience. The choirs appreciates the fun-loving style and collaborative approach she brings to this choir with a long-standing history.

The St. Albert Singers Guild is a community, as well as a musical family. Within the choir family we make new friendships and nurture long term relationships. We celebrate milestones, we grieve losses, and we work together to further the goals of the Guild. The music draws us all together; the love of singing and of bringing joy to others through performance is something we all share no matter what our background or musical experience.