Maria Sjöstedt Björs is the director of the choir since 2016.
She was born in Umeå but grew up in Brunflo where she has her roots - in the village of Bodal.
She studied at the academies of music in Göteborg, Stockholm and Vercelli (Italy) and studied piano for among others Ingemar Bergefeldt, Vittorio Rosetta and Tamara Jeltowa - and conductorship for Gösta Ohlin, Jan Yngve and Per Borin. After her studies Maria returned to Jämtland as a piano teacher at the Arts Programme at Jämtlands Gymnasium.
Maria is active as a teacher, pianist, chamber musician and choir conductor in many different constellations in the county, among other things in projects such as Trio Quinta and Sounds of Women. For her work to bring out music by women composers she was awarded the cultural scholarship of the municipality of Östersund together with Trio Quinta and Lena Moén in 2017.
"I am interested in what music might mean to people today and in what happens in the meeting between choir, composer, conductor and - perhaps the most important aspect - the audience. To work with music together with others always makes me happy ... "
