Barbara Sanderman, director

Barbara Sanderman, founder and Director of Caritas Chamber Chorale, is Director of Sacred Music at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish in Bridgewater. Her responsibilities include directing the Parish Choir and Children's Choir, playing the organ and piano for liturgies, and coaching cantors, instrumentalists, and small groups in preparation for liturgy. Previously, Barbara was Director of Music at Our Lady of the Mount Church in Warren for 15 years. In addition to parish work, Barbara is active in the Metuchen Chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, having recently served as Chapter Director.  Currently she is Local Chair for the 2008 NPM Eastern Region Convention which will take place in New Brunswick in June 2008.

Barbara has been involved in fund-raising for the Mission through musical and non-musical endeavors for several years.  This is the third year that Caritas Chamber Chorale, under Barbara’s direction, has performed for the benefit of the Adorno Fathers’ African Mission.  In January 2001, she directed the Beloved Daughters of Our Lady of the Mount in a concert of a cappella sacred music. Later that year, the Beloved Daughters released a recording entitled Have Courage, My Soul. Proceeds from both the concert and the recording benefited the African Mission. Barbara has also been involved in non-musical benefits for the African Mission including Alternative Gift Fairs and a Benefit Dinner.

Barbara received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington, Indiana, with a double major in piano and mathematics. She has also pursued further studies in church music at Westminster Choir College and musicology at Rutgers University. Barbara has studied and performed as choral director with the Siena Session of Music and the Arts in Siena, Italy. The parents of two grown daughters, she and her husband, Bob, live in Warren.