Sarah MacDonald (born Ottawa, Ontario, 22 November 1968) is a Canadian-born organist and conductor, living in the UK, and currently holds the positions of Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir. She has been at Selwyn since 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel.
Sarah came to the United Kingdom from Canada in 1992 as Organ Scholar of Robinson College, Cambridge after studying piano, organ, and conducting at The Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School in Toronto with Leon Fleisher, Marek Jablonski, and John Tuttle. At Cambridge she read for a degree in Music, and studied the organ with David Sanger.
Sarah has played numerous recitals and conducted choirs throughout the UK, North America, the Middle East, New Zealand, and much of mainland Europe. She has made over 30 recordings, variously in the guises of pianist, organist, conductor, and producer, and currently works most frequently with Regent Records. Sarah is a winner of the Royal College of Organists' (RCO) coveted Limpus Prize, and has taught organ and conducting for Eton Choral Courses, Oundle for Organists, the Jennifer Bate Organ Academy, and courses run by the RCO. For its first ten years, she was a regular director of the Girl Chorister Course at St Thomas' Church Fifth Avenue, in New York City, and she is currently in demand as a director of RSCM in America summer residential courses (Charlotte 2016, Rhode Island 2017, Pacific Northwest 2018). Sarah is a Fellow, Examiner, and member of the Academic Board of the RCO, and also spent nine years as a Trustee. She has had a number of choral compositions published by Encore Publications, the Royal School of Church Music, and St James Music Press. Sarah also writes a popular monthly column for the American Guild of Organists' magazine 'The American Organist', called "UK Report".
2017 - Regent Records: Christmas from Selwyn
2016 - Regent Records: settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for upper voices (Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir)
2016 - Regent Records: choral music by John Hosking (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge and Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir)
2015 - Regent Records: choral music for Advent and Christmas by Alan Bullard, including 'O Come, Emmanuel'
2015 - Regent Records: "The Eternal Ecstasy" - including music by MacMillan, Cooke, Tavener, Mealor, Whitacre, Lauridsen, and Bullard
2014 - Regent Record: Choral music by Phillip Cooke (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2013 - Regent Records: Wondrous Cross: liturgical choral music by Alan Bullard (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2013 - Regent Records: Penitence and Redemption: Pergolesi Stabat Mater and other music for Lent and Passiontide (Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir)
2011 - Regent Records: Choral Music by Gary Higginson (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge and Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir)
2010 - Regent Records: Milles Regretz: music for lutes and voices (members of the Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2010 - Regent Records: God be in my head: Choral music by Paul Edwards (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2009 - Regent Records: Come out, Lazar: the Shorter Choral works of Paul Spicer (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2009 - Choir & Organ: A lover’s complaint: New music for choir and organ (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge) (cover CD for March/April 2009 issue of Choir & Organ)
2008 - Regent Records: A Candle to the Glorious Sun: Music by Martin Peerson & John Milton Senior (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2008 - Regent Records: Sing reign of fair maid: Music for Christmas and the New Year (Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir)
2007 - Priory Records: Master-Pieces from Selwyn College, Cambridge (music selected for Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge by Masters of the College)
2006 - Kevin Mayhew: Christus vincit: Music by Colin Mawby to celebrate his 70th birthday (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2006 - Priory Records: Songs of Welcome: Music for Women’s Voices (Newnham College Chamber Choir, Cambridge)
2005 - URM Audio: The Moon of Wintertime: Carols from around the world (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2004 - Priory Records: One day in thy courts: Settings of the Psalms (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2003 - Priory Records: Complete New English Hymnal Vol. XIV (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
2000 - Herald AV Productions: Herbert Howells: Evening Canticles (Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge)
