by Barbara Mraz
Sonya Sutton is a pianist, organist and choral conductor who likes to make connections between things that don’t always seem to belong together. She and her husband live in Washington, D.C. and have four adult children. While not exactly out of Ozzie and Harriet, their family is pretty darn swell.”
This is from Sonya’s blog Notes for a New Day, which I cannot recommend to you highly enough. She explores such topics as joy, enthusiasm, punctuation, and the connections between the arts and spirituality. The blog is only one aspect of this complex and fascinating woman.
Educated at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, Sonya earned Bachelor and Master Degrees in Piano Performance, and a second Masters in Arts Administration.
She has worked at a variety of churches, including being the musical director at St. Alban’s in Washington, D.C. for twenty years. During this time, she led choir pilgrimages to sing in Italy (2008), Austria and Czech Republic (2010), England (2012) and France (2015). She led professional and volunteer musicians in five ensembles, wrote a weekly blog on music and faith, and founded a performing arts series. St. Alban’s sponsored an album of Sonya’s playing that can still be downloaded called “Spiritual Corners of the Piano.”
Sonya is married to the Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton, the 14th bishop of the diocese of Maryland. They have been married for nineteen years and have a blended family of four children. She says that as a bishop’s wife, she has the best seat in the house for many events, including being introduced to Queen Elizabeth by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Suttons live in Washington D.C.
Sonya’s daughter Sophia Subbayya Vastek is a classical pianist performing various venues around the country (including concerts of two-piano repertoire with her mother!) and has an album recently released called “Histories”.
Sonya says that early in her career she learned that “the mantra of all church musicians who take their job seriously is that “a church musician is a pastor, a teacher, and a musician. In that order …”
When asked about her reactions to St. John’s, Sonya cited the warm welcome she has been given and the healthy atmosphere, without some of the infighting that can scar a parish.
Since leaving St. Alban’s in 2016, she has served 5 parishes as Interim Music Director, and enjoys the challenges of jumping in feet first to new music programs, new opportunities for growth, and new friendships.
Sonya’s tenure at St Alban’s includes the time when our rector Jered was there as a young curate (“We knew even then he had potential”). It is their connection that brought Sonya to St. John’s where she will be with us until mid-April, and we are grateful indeed.
Originally published in the Mar-Apr 2018 Evangelist.
