Dr. Charles Sundquist, Artistic Director of Anima – Glen Ellen Children’s Chorus, is a native of Duluth, Minnesota. He received his Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Organ Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of David Craighead. He was awarded the Prix d’Excellence from the Conservatoire de Région de Ruiel-Malmaison in France while a student of Marie-Claire Alain. While in Paris, he was Associate Choirmaster and Organist at the American Episcopal Cathedral, accompanist for the Paris Ballet School and coach/accompanist for members of the Paris Opera Chorus. Dr. Sundquist’s coaches have included Gwendolyn Koldovsky, Robert Spillman and Samuel Sanders for piano, and the vocal studios of Jan DeGaetanni, Marcia Baldwin, John Malloy, and Udo Reinemann.

Dr. Sundquist’s passion to provide musical and cultural exchanges to his students is evident in his past collaborations. As Director of Choirs at Mountain Lakes High School and Princeton High school in New Jersey, he prepared his choirs for performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin in collaboration with the G. F. Händel school, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the Kostroma Symphony, outside of Moscow, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky at the Princeton University Chapel, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem with Metropolitan Opera soloists Paul Plishka and Sharon Sweet, a collaboration with the St. Charles University Orchestra in Prague, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, and many solo concerts in Dresden, Weimar, Stockholm, Vienna, Budapest, Montréal, and the White House and Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. In 1997, the Princeton High School Choir performed in Moscow with the Moscow Conservatory’s Children’s Choir as part of Moscow’s 850th Anniversary celebration. His choirs have also been featured at ACDA conventions.