About Us

The Collegiate Peaks Chorale is a volunteer community ensemble representing the towns of Buena Vista, Nathrop, Salida, and Leadville, Colorado. Each participant shares the goal and desire of bringing high-quality music to the Arkansas Valley and furthering the impact of the performing arts, all while having a lot of fun along the way! Repertoire selections range from beginner to advanced, providing something for everyone. The Chorale starts up in mid-August to prepare for holiday concerts in December and reconvenes in January to prepare a spring program which varies in theme from year to year.

Mary Sandell began her music studies at the young age of five years, studying Suzuki piano.  She transitioned to playing the cello then later found her voice as a soprano, performing with her high school choir, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, The St. Louis Symphony Chorus, and the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica Choir. She obtained a bachelor of music degree in Vocal Performance at Indiana University where she worked with sopranos Klara Barlow and Alice Hopper, and choral conductor Carmen-Helena Téllez. She continued her musical pursuits at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO, completing two Master’s Degree programs: one in Choral Music Education and another in Voice. While in Greeley, Ms. Sandell studied voice under Diane Bolden-Taylor and worked with choral conductors Howard Skinner and Galen Darrough.

After graduation, Ms. Sandell began teaching music in public schools and conducting local church choirs. She also continued her work as a soloist and chorus member with the Amadeus Chamber Chorale, Bailey Choral Festival, Arkansas Choral Society, and the Colorado Bach Ensemble. In 2016, she and her family moved to Salida, CO where she taught music at Salida Middle School and directed the choirs at the Salida United Methodist Church. A few years later she opened her private music studio and formed the Salida Youth Choir. She is a cellist with the local Alpine Orchestra, a singer with the Jazz Merchants, and was recently selected as one of twenty-four students from an international audition to participate in the Norfolk Chamber Ensemble and Choral Conducting Workshop at the Yale School of Music under the direction of  Simon Carrington.

In addition to her musical pursuits, Ms. Sandell enjoys working in her garden, fly-fishing with her son, scrapbooking with her daughter, and golfing with her husband. 

  Dr. Yufen Chou, a music educator and performer, originally from Taipei, Taiwan has lived  in Salida, Colorado since 2021. 

As an educator, Dr. Chou got her first group of piano and violin students when she was a college freshman. What started as a part-time gig turned into her life-long passion. Yufen Chou Music Studio was first established in Washington, D. C. in 2005 and re-opened its doors in Salida, Colorado in 2021, offering piano, violin, and early childhood music instructions to students from age 0 to 99.

 Besides running her own studio, Dr. Chou also worked as an adjunct music instructor in Trinity Washington University and Prince George’s Community College for close to 10 years while she was in DC. After more than twenty years of teaching, Dr. Chou still strives to learn and update her knowledge in pedagogy to providehigh-qualityy instruction for students of all ages, levels, and learning styles. 

As a pianist, Dr. Chou is equally at home as a soloist and collaborator in various settings. You can also find her playing the organ or piano every Sunday morning in the Episcopal Church of the Ascension. As a violinist, Dr. Chou is an avid orchestra player, served as concertmaster in both her high school and undergraduate string orchestras, and joined Alpine Orchestra in 2022. Recently, she even branched out to participate in a jazz big band. 

Yufen Chou holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Accompanying from The Catholic University of America and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from Stephen F. Austin State University. Dr. Chou is a registered Suzuki instructor in both piano and violin and a licensed Music Together®️ center director. 

The Collegiate Peaks Chorale is led by a wonderful group of board members:

Mary Sandell | Artistic Director

Maartje Potterton | Board Chair, Alto Section Leader

Denise Rooks | Vice Chair, Tenor Section Leader

Erick Steen | Treasurer

Rhonda Funston | Librarian

Liz Collier | Secretary

Tiffany Rhodes | Soprano Section Leader

Chris Tanner | Bass Section Leader