Soprano section leader Sonja Spencer was born in Vernon, TX and moved to Oregon when she was five years old. She did her Post Graduate Studies in Business Administration and Business Education, and also has minors in Economics and Geology. Sonja has been singing since grade school, and belonged to many choral groups in high school. A highlight of Sonja’s choral experience came when a group to which she belonged sang with the Hartford Symphony, directed by Skitch Henderson. She joined the Conchords four years ago. Coming from a musical family, Sonja can claim a great uncle who played with the Lawrence Welk Band, a grandmother who taught voice and was active in the Minneapolis Opera, a sister who has soloed with the Portland Symphonic Choir, and a father who played under John Philip Sousa’s direction. Sonja has grown daughters (“who have great husbands,” she reports). She is a proud grandmother of five — soon to be six – grandchildren. She enjoys golf and tennis, and loves to support the arts, theater, children’s musical education, and other causes. She also plays the piano and dances. “To me,” Sonja says, “music is like breathing. It is the heart and soul of the universe and the soul of humanity.”