MART SANDER

'Martin Laurent Sander' (born August 10 1967 in Tallinn, Estonia) is an Estonian singer, actor, author, and television host.

Contents

Life and career

External links

Life and career

Sander began his musical education at the age of 7, studying violin 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.
Sander was a member of the Estonian National Opera. During the early 1990s, after Estonia regained its independence, Sander began a series of musical tours throughout Europe, most notably in Scandinavia and Germany and began appearing in Estonian television productions. Sander has performed in a number of European venues in English-language comic operas and musical theater. He has acted in six films, his first starring role being the 1989 Finnish film ''King of the Hit Parade'' and has directed two others, including 1992's ''Varas'' (''"The Thief"''). In 1993 he appeared on American television for the first time in the made-for-cable movie ''Candles in the Dark'', opposite the Swiss actor Maximilian Schell and American actress Alyssa Milano. Sander, who speaks six languages, is 6 feet, 5 inches (197 cm) tall. He has also appeared on television in Russia, Germany, Finland, and Sweden. Sander was commended by Queen Elizabeth II on her state visit to Estonia for championing British music, notably Gilbert and Sullivan, in Estonia.
Sander released his first recording ''"Kohv & suudlused"'' ("Coffee & Kisses") in 1986 and the following year released his first full-length album ''Modern Fox'', which was also the name of his orchestra. This recording was also the first solo vocal recording by and Estonian artist on CD. The only Estonian-language song on this CD is "Kui mind hülgad, mulle naerata" ("When you leave me, give me just a smile"), written and composed by Sander himself. In 2004 Sander released his first album in Great Britain entitled ''The Monckton Album'', with selections of three musicals composed by Lionel Monckton, on Divine Art Records. This album was awarded The Critic's Choise award by ''The Gramohone'' magazine. That same year he was prominently 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. Another album, released by Divine Art in 2007, ''The Finck Album'', is dedicated to the music by British composer Herman Finck. Aside from dance tunes, Mart Sander has also composed and recorded some sacred music (''"Ave Maria of a Sinner"'') and a three act musical fantasy ''"The Vaudevillains"''.
In 2005, Sander established and became the conductor of a Tallinn-based Bel-Etage Swing Swindlers dance orchestra, which released an album called ''Five-Fifteen: A Tribute To the BBC Dance Orchestra'' in Great Britain in 2005. This album was named ''The jazz album of the week'' by The Evening Standard. The next year the orchestra released a controversial album of German swing music from the last years of the Nazi period. This program was also filmed, recreating an authentic look and atmosphere of a 1945 film, as "Musik unter Bomben" ("Music under bombs", first broadcast in 2007).
In late 2006, Sander co-hosted a very popular entertainment show ''Tantsud tähtedega'' (''Dancing with the Stars''), Estonian version of ''Strictly Come Dancing.'' Before that, he hosted a popular sing-along show ''Tähed muusikas'' (''Stars in the Music''), both on Estonia's Kanal 2 channel. Continuing with music again, he now hosts "Aastad muusikas" (''Years in the Music''), a musical entertainment programme that centers on retro and nostalgia values of music from recent and not-so-recent years gone by. Sander also currently hosts a popular weekly musical variety show on Estonian television.
Sander is an enthusiast of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, having translated several of their comic operas into Estonian and produced or directed many of them. He is a frequent performer at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England, where he has played such roles as Mr Cox in ''Cox and Box'', Judge in ''Trial by Jury'', Spanish officer in ''Contrabandista'' and Sir Despard Murgatroyd in ''Ruddigore''.
Sander has also written novels in English: ''Mercator'', published in 1994, ''Z, The Terminal Letter'', 2005, and ''Lux Gravis'', 2007. He is also a keen painter and had an exhibition (copies of old masters) at the State Art Museum in spring 2006.

External links

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★ The Official Mart Sander Homepage