Andrea Ashton

Andrea grew up in England, receiving a BA in music and English from Nottingham University followed by the Music Teachers Certificate of the University of London, followed by some elementary school teaching, where she met her husband.

In 1967 they emigrated to teaching posts in the County of Forty Mile in southern Alberta. In 1972 Andrea was hired by the Medicine Hat School District to start a school string orchestra program, which she taught for 20 years. Retiring in 1999, Andrea and her husband moved to Victoria in 2006. Plagued by neck and shoulder problems, Andrea turned from strings to singing which she had enjoyed throughout school and university, never having had a lesson.

Joining the Victoria Philharmonic Choir in 2007 soon after its birth, Andrea commenced singing lessons in 2009 with Victoria Zajchowski and has since passed Royal Conservatory levels 4 through 7, receiving the Gold Medal for level 8 in 2017.

Past Art Song Projects:

• The Dichterliebe Project 2016
• The Schoene Muellerin Project 2017
• The Vaughan Williams Project 2018