Currently Head of Choirs at Canberra Girls Grammar School, Sonia Anfiloff commenced her official vocal studies in 2003 at The Australian National University School of Music, where she was told that her voice was no longer suitable for choral singing, and was encouraged to delve deeper into solo studies. As a naturally big voice with sound musicianship, Sonia was able to embrace the world of the solo voice with forward momentum. Unfortunately, naturally big voices aren’t always given the best direction when needed, and instead pushed too early into a place where the singer isn’t physically or mentally mature enough to go. This can cause massive vocal issues and stress on a young singer. This was absolutely the case for Sonia. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music Sonia realised that her technique was almost non-existent, so she took the next two years to start from scratch with a new teacher and set up a firm basis for a healthier vocal technique. The next step was a Masters in Voice Performance under the guidance of Christina Wilson and Alan Hicks. Finishing her MMUS at ANU in 2010, Sonia then moved to Vienna and continued to strengthen her vocal technique and physical understanding of her voice until her return to Canberra at the end of 2019.
Even though Sonia was encouraged not to sing in choirs at an early age, she has always kept a hand, or two in this case, in the choral world, and has never been without at least one choir under her baton. Having been exposed to numerous cultural understandings of vocal technique and health, Sonia is now focussed on bringing her knowledge of natural vocal production to choirs, conductors, teachers, singers of all stages, and any person who is using their voice in a highly stressful way.
Sonia is presenting a workshop on We Sing How We Speak