Mart Sander
Encyclopedia
Martin Laurent Sander is an Estonian singer, actor, director, author and television host.
at the Tallinn Music School, followed by terms at the State Choreography
School, and the Estonian Music Academy where he majored in piano
and conducting
.
s (especially those of Gilbert and Sullivan
) and Edwardian musical comedy
, including several roles in amateur productions at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
. He also sang the role of the Spanish Officer in a concert production of The Contrabandista
in 2002 at Cheltenham
, England, at the Sir Arthur Sullivan
Society Festival, with professional soloists and the Cotswold Savoyards (the first modern professional performance of this comic opera
) and with orchestras such as Estonian Dream Big Band and Wanemuine Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has performed at and hosted Andrew Lloyd Webber
galas.
Sander has appeared in several films, including Kallis härra Q (Dear Mister Moon) (Estonia, 1998) as Saara's and Sigrid's father, Senkiföldje (Parallel Lives) (Hungary/France, 1993) as a sympathetic Nazi, and Iskelmäprinssi (Finland, 1991) as Martti. He has also directed three films, including 1992's Varas (The Thief) and the controversial Berlin 1945: Musik Unter Bomben (2007), which was also shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 (Short Film Corner) .
In 1993 he appeared on American television for the first time in the made-for-cable movie Candles in the Dark
, which starred Austrian actor Maximilian Schell
and American actress Alyssa Milano
. Other TV appearances included Eurolaul (1993) and the TV series Tantsud tähtedega (Dancing with the Stars
), which he hosts. He also hosted Kissed By the Muse from 1990 to 1993 and Tähed muusikas (Stars in the Music) from 1997 to 2006 and again from 2008 to 2010. Both Tantsud tähtedega and Tähed muusikas are aired on Estonia's Kanal 2
station.
In 2004, Sander was featured in the BBC
documentary
Estonia Dreams of Eurovision! (directed by American filmmaker Marina Zenovich) about the preparations for the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest
in which Estonia was the host nation. Sander met Queen Elizabeth II during her state visit to Estonia in October 2006. In May 2008 he was featured as the celebrity guest in the Deal Or No Deal
World Tour special on NBC
.
In 2010, Sander returned to the Estonian National Opera, where he engaged as a producer and director.
entitled The Monckton Album, with selections from three musicals composed by Lionel Monckton
, on the Divine Art Records label, receiving many favorable reviews and was a Gramophone magazine Critic's Choice 2004 selection. Also in 2004, Bel-Etage songs from Edwardian musical comedies were featured on Brian Kay's BBC program. On another occasion, the same program dedicated an episode to his musical fantasy The Vaudevillains, composed and recorded in 2005.
In 2005, Sander established the Swing Swindlers
dance orchestra. In 2005, the Swing Swindlers issued an album in the UK called Five-Fifteen: A Tribute to the BBC Dance Orchestra Another album, released by Divine Art in 2007, The Finck Album, is dedicated to the music of British composer Herman Finck
. The Swing Swindlers has released 12 albums of swing music and 3 albums of theatre and concert music.
Sander is also a painter and had an exhibition (copies of old masters) at the Estonian State Art Museum in spring 2006. His first solo exhibition took place in Tallinn in July and August 2008, followed by similar exhibitions in 2009 and 2010.
Mart Sander is Roman Catholic and a Knight of the Order of St. Stanislaus.
Life and career
Sander began his musical education at the age of 7, studying violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
at the Tallinn Music School, followed by terms at the State Choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
School, and the Estonian Music Academy where he majored in piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
Stage, film and television
Sander was a member of the Estonian National Opera from 1986-92. Since the early 1990s, when Estonia regained its independence, Sander has performed in a number of European venues in English-language comic operaComic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s (especially those of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
) and Edwardian musical comedy
Edwardian Musical Comedy
Edwardian musical comedies were British musical theatre shows from the period between the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the American musicals by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter following World War I.Between...
, including several roles in amateur productions at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is held every summer at the Opera House in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. The three-week Festival of Gilbert and Sullivan performances and fringe events attracts thousands of visitors, including performers, supporters, and G&S enthusiasts from all...
. He also sang the role of the Spanish Officer in a concert production of The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones, is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 72 performances. There were brief revivals in Manchester in 1874...
in 2002 at Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, England, at the Sir Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
Society Festival, with professional soloists and the Cotswold Savoyards (the first modern professional performance of this comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
) and with orchestras such as Estonian Dream Big Band and Wanemuine Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has performed at and hosted Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
galas.
Sander has appeared in several films, including Kallis härra Q (Dear Mister Moon) (Estonia, 1998) as Saara's and Sigrid's father, Senkiföldje (Parallel Lives) (Hungary/France, 1993) as a sympathetic Nazi, and Iskelmäprinssi (Finland, 1991) as Martti. He has also directed three films, including 1992's Varas (The Thief) and the controversial Berlin 1945: Musik Unter Bomben (2007), which was also shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 (Short Film Corner) .
In 1993 he appeared on American television for the first time in the made-for-cable movie Candles in the Dark
Candles in the Dark
Candles in the Dark is a 1993 made for television Christmas film directed by Maximilian Schell.-Plot:When her father thinks she is too spoiled, he sends Sylvia to her aunt in Estonia. She soon find her self engulfed in a struggle with her father, and finds herself being hunted by the KGB.Meanwhile,...
, which starred Austrian actor Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
and American actress Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Jayne Milano is an American actress and former singer, known for her childhood role as Samantha Micelli in the sitcom Who's the Boss? and an eight-year stint as Phoebe Halliwell on the series Charmed. She was also a series regular on the original Melrose Place portraying the role of...
. Other TV appearances included Eurolaul (1993) and the TV series Tantsud tähtedega (Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
), which he hosts. He also hosted Kissed By the Muse from 1990 to 1993 and Tähed muusikas (Stars in the Music) from 1997 to 2006 and again from 2008 to 2010. Both Tantsud tähtedega and Tähed muusikas are aired on Estonia's Kanal 2
Kanal 2
Kanal 2 is a privately owned Estonian television channel. Its literal name in English is "Channel 2".First broadcasts were aired on October 1, 1993.- Television series :Daytime* Victoria * Julia – Wege zum Glück ...
station.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
Estonia Dreams of Eurovision! (directed by American filmmaker Marina Zenovich) about the preparations for the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
in which Estonia was the host nation. Sander met Queen Elizabeth II during her state visit to Estonia in October 2006. In May 2008 he was featured as the celebrity guest in the Deal Or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
World Tour special on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
In 2010, Sander returned to the Estonian National Opera, where he engaged as a producer and director.
Conducting and recording
In 2000, Sander helped establish, and began to conduct, the Tallinn-based Bel-Etage Concert Orchestra, which has performed many works of Edwardian musical comedy and several Gilbert and Sullivan operas. In 2004, Sander and Bel-Etage released their first album in Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
entitled The Monckton Album, with selections from three musicals composed by Lionel Monckton
Lionel Monckton
Lionel John Alexander Monckton was an English writer and composer of musical theatre. He was Britain's most popular musical theatre composer of the early years of the 20th century.-Early life:...
, on the Divine Art Records label, receiving many favorable reviews and was a Gramophone magazine Critic's Choice 2004 selection. Also in 2004, Bel-Etage songs from Edwardian musical comedies were featured on Brian Kay's BBC program. On another occasion, the same program dedicated an episode to his musical fantasy The Vaudevillains, composed and recorded in 2005.
In 2005, Sander established the Swing Swindlers
Swing Swindlers
Swing Swindlers is an orchestra specializing in dance music from the thirties and forties. The 16-member orchestra was formed by Mart Sander, singer and conductor, in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2004...
dance orchestra. In 2005, the Swing Swindlers issued an album in the UK called Five-Fifteen: A Tribute to the BBC Dance Orchestra Another album, released by Divine Art in 2007, The Finck Album, is dedicated to the music of British composer Herman Finck
Herman Finck
Herman Finck was a British composer of Dutch extraction.Born Hermann Van Der Vinck in London, he began his studies training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and established a career as the musical director at the Palace Theatre in London , with whose orchestra he made many virtuoso...
. The Swing Swindlers has released 12 albums of swing music and 3 albums of theatre and concert music.
Writing and painting
Sander has written novels in English: Mercator, published in 1994 and Lux Gravis, 2008, as well as a collection of short stories, Z, The Terminal Letter, 2005.Sander is also a painter and had an exhibition (copies of old masters) at the Estonian State Art Museum in spring 2006. His first solo exhibition took place in Tallinn in July and August 2008, followed by similar exhibitions in 2009 and 2010.
Mart Sander is Roman Catholic and a Knight of the Order of St. Stanislaus.