Album Notes

Cassandra is a musician who is truly coming from her heart. With a degree in music from the University of Illinois, Cassandra's career has taken many turns over the last 12 years. She became a professional opera singer at the age of 24, performing with the New Organization for Vocal Artistry, Grant Park Symphony Chorus of Chicago, as a solo recital vocalist and was honored to sing the National anthem for the Chicago Bulls. In 1999, Cassandra gave up her opera career to pursue her own passion: writing and performing her own music. For 2 years she retrained her voice to become a pop, jazz and rock vocalist. She has fronted a number of rock bands over the last 5 years as well as her own original band and has produced and released 2 CDs through her company A Place to Shine Music, Inc. (Moments her debut, released in 2001, and Holiday Wishes, a Holiday album released in December of 2003) She is currently celebrating the release of her third CD, "The Give and the Take", which she feels is her best work to date. Cassandra also works as a studio vocalist and is an accomplished conductor, actress and pianist. In addition to her solo work, she has co-created and co-directs an eight-member spiritual rock band called Sapphire Song with her colleague Lori Gray Muligano. (www.sapphiresong.org). Cassandra and her friend Dorothy Biris have also co-founded the Spirit of the Arts or SOTA. (www.spiritofthearts.com) SOTA is devoted to the celebration of life through music, theater and the visual arts. When she isn't singing, she is living her other passion, which is teaching. She has run her home-based professional voice studio for twelve years where she is a vocal coach and mentor to students ranging from beginner to professional level.