Anne Monkhouse (music director)

Anne Monkhouse received her Honours Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario and her Bachelor of Education from Althouse College. Since then she has been a flautist with various orchestras, including the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and she has taught flute at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is presently principal flautist with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra. Until last season, Anne was the conductor of Guelph Youth Singers youngest choir (ages 6 and up), and interim choir director of the Trinity United Church choir.

More recently, along with choral workshops, Anne has begun to find much reward a conductor of musicals. She has conducted A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with Guelph Little Theatre; Meet Me in St. Louis with Royal City Musical Productions; HMS Pinafore, Curses, Foiled Again!, The Pirates of Penzance and Peter Pun with the Southwestern Ontario Suzuki Institute; Galt Little Theatre's production of Oliver, where she received the adjudicator's award for best musical direction for the Western Ontario Drama League Festival and Theatre Intrigue's HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and Broadway and Beyond.

Last year, Anne was very fortunate to work as music director for the student edition of Les Misèrables—Student Edition, Guelph Youth Musical Theatre's premier performance and is thrilled to be collaborating with her long time friend/choreographer Patricia McLeod and her friends/pianists Grace Peters and Ken Gee in this current production of Guelph Youth Musical Theatre's Once Upon a Mattress. She is very happy to once again have the support and musical talents of her family John, Neil and Laine who are helping with this show from set building to performing.