SIGNE BOYER
Board Emerita
Signe Boyer was the Founder and Artistic Director of Cantabile Children’s Chorus from 1994 – 2004. Signe realized the need for comprehensive music education for young children in the Bay Area and worked tirelessly to fill that niche, providing much needed choral music education and performance opportunities for young people. For over 35 years Ms.Boyer taught music education in Oklahoma, Texas, the Palo Alto and San Jose school districts, Hillbrook School in Los Gatos and Keys School in Palo Alto. In addition she has started senior choirs at Lytton Gardens in Palo Alto and the San Bruno Senior Center, and was the Assistant Conductor of the Baroque Choral Guild.Under her direction, Cantabile toured on three occasions to England, Italy and Vienna, singing with the Vienna Boys Choir. The choir premiered works by contemporary composers such as Libby Larsen, Brian Holmes, Sondra Clark, Henry Mollicone and Craig Bohmler. Cantabile collaborated with other musical organizations such as Peninsula Women’s Chorus, Baroque Choral Guild, Philharmonia Baroque, San Jose Symphony Orchestra, Peninsula Orchestra and Schola Cantorum.
Ms. Boyer holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Syracuse University, is Kodaly trained and studied choral conducting with Dr. Charlene Archibeque at San Jose State and Dr. Patricia Hennings at Skyline College. She taught the Yamaha Music Education for fifteen years, was a private piano teacher and youth choir director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Burlingame.
She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association where she served as the Repertoire and Standards Chair for children’s choirs for three years, and the California Music Educators Association and Chorus America. The San Jose Mercury News honored her with a teacher of the week award in 1998.