Jenny Sawer - Résumé

Educational Background

1999-2003

Bachelor of Music (Musicology with First class Honours)

Complementary study: Classical singing, tutored by Angela Giblin and Susan Ellis

Canberra School of Music, Australian National University

1996-1997

ACT Year 12 Certificate, Narrabundah College

Career Overview

October 2009 - December 2014

Singing Teacher, Private Studio at Pirana Music

June 2008 - 2015

Lead vocalist/guitarist/pianist/songwriter in original band Freyja's Rain 

February 2008 - present

Singing Teacher, Canberra Girls Grammar School

April 2004 - December 2023

Lead vocalist/guitarist/pianist in blues/pop/roots duo Jen & Jim

 July 1998 - Present

Vocalist, self-employed - choral performances, weddings, funerals and other functions

January 2015

Junior Teacher, Young Music Society Summer School 2015

January 2014

Senior Teacher, Young Music Society Summer School 2014

January 2013

Junior Teacher, Young Music Society Summer School 2013

January 2012

Junior Teacher, Young Music Society Summer School 2012

February 2009 - December 2012

Lead vocalist in covers band The Dead Sea Rollers

February 2007 - September 2009

Singing Teacher, Home studio, Kaleen

August 2002 - December 2006

Singing Teacher, Canberra Music Tuition, Belconnen

March 2005 - October 2008

Vocal Soloist, Christian Science Church, Barton

September 2005 - December 2011

Soprano with vocal quartet Faux pas harmonie

September 2005 - December 2012

Occasional performer with A Bunch of Posers, Acting/Singing performing group

February 2006 - February 2008

Staff member of Rocking Horse Music, Early Childhood Music Education program

July 2004 - December 2007

Musical Director, Out of the shower and on with the show choir, Tuggeranong Community Arts Centre

January 2006 - July 2007

Musical Director, Lush Life, jazz/pop vocal group

July 2006 - December 2006

Musical Director, Retro Rebels community choir

April 2005 - July 2006

Assistant Musical Director, Canberra Union Voices

September 2004 - December 2005

Musical Director, Andante Andante, ABBA tribute choir

March 2004

Assistant to the Program Manager, National Folk Festival 2004

February 1996 - December 1999

Member of young women's a capella choir Cantare

Choral/Opera Roles

October 2023

         Soprano soloist in Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb and Vivaldi's Gloria

         with The ANU Choral Society

See an excellent review

October 2019

         Soprano soloist in Brubeck's To Hope! A Celebration

         with The Llewellyn Choir

June 2019

         Soprano soloist with a Chorus of Women's The People's Passion

         Australian Centre for Culture and Christianity

November 2018

         Soprano soloist with a Chorus of Women's The People's Passion

         Australian Centre for Culture and Christianity

November 2014

         Soprano soloist with a Chorus of Women's Passion for Peace

         Australian Centre for Culture and Christianity

December 2013

         Soprano soloist in a Chorus of Women's I am Ethos

         The High Court, Canberra

December 2013

         Soprano soloist in Judith Clingan's So Good a Thing Celebration

         Albert Hall, Canberra

April 2011

Soprano soloist with Igitur Nos' performance of Vaughan Williams' Mass in G minor

September 2010

Fury 1 (Soprano soloist) with a Chorus of Women's Gifts of the Furies as part of the exhibition Beyond Resonable Drought at The Museum of Australian Democracy

March 2009

Fury 1 (Soprano soloist) with A Chorus of Women's "The Gifts of the Furies"

December 2008

Soloist in CAMRA's performance of Britten's Ceremony of Carols

October 2007 and October 2008

Belshazzer's Queen in the Wayfarers' production of the Play of Daniel

September 2006

Soprano soloist in Fiona Fraser's Prayer for Peace

September 2005 and June 2008

Humility, Queen of the Virtues in CAMRA's production of Hildegard von Bingen's Ordo Virtutum

December 2004

Soprano soloist, St Paul's choir performance of Stanford's Magnificat in D

October 2004

Mezzo-soprano soloist, ANU Choral Society's performance of Dvorák's Mass in D and Howell's Requiem

June 2004

Second soprano soloist, ANU Choral Society's performance of Vivaldi's Gloria

July 2003

Second soprano soloist, Canberra Intervarsity Choral Festival's performance of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610

October 2002

Aphrodite and Queen Victoria in Judith Clingan's The Grandfather Clock

August 2002

Chorus member, George Limb Opera Company's The Merry Widow

May 2002

Soprano soloist, ANU Choral Society's performance of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle

Volunteer Work

December 2002 - August 2004

Performer Reception Coordinator, National Folk Festival, Canberra

November 2000 - August 2003

Social Secretary, 54th Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival, Canberra

February - December 2000

Assistant to the Music Therapist, Jindalee Nursing Home

Musical Skills

• Singing teacher
• Vocal performance - mezzo-soprano (jazz/pop/blues/classical/folk/rock)
• Musicological research and theory (specialising in ethnomusicology)
• Conducting
• Cellist, guitarist and pianist
• Composer and arranger of music

Scholarships/Awards

September 2008

Writer, Full Member, Australasian Performing Rights Association limited (APRA)

November 2007

Kodály Teacher Training Certificate, Primary Music Education, Level 1

September 2006

Adult Learners' Week ACT 2006 Award for Outstanding Teacher

March 2004 - December 2004

Vocal Scholarship holder, Wesley Uniting Church choir, Forrest

February 2001 - December 2003

Vocal Scholarship holder, St Paul's Anglican Church choir, Manuka

September 2002

First place - Vocal Open Championship, Wagga Wagga Eisteddfod

Publications

Outrageous (Independent record release)

Freyja's Rain, September 2013

All songs composed by Jenny Sawer

Recorded and mixed by Ian Blake

Mastered by Kimmo Venonnen

Available on iTunes

References

References are available on request.