Our Director

Jennifer A. Wagner began directing the Swedish Glee Club in 2017. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Millikin University in 1997 and her master’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University in 2011. Jennifer is also the choir director at Waukegan High School where she directs five curricular choirs and the co-curricular madrigal-vocal jazz choir, Rendition. In addition to choir, her responsibilities include being the faculty sponsor of the Tri-M music honor society and the vocal director for the spring musical. Her choirs have repeatedly received top honors at the state level having placed in the five top choir programs for the Illinois High School Association Class AA schools since 2012. Her choirs have performed in NYC, Orlando, San Francisco, Toronto and the Bahamas.

Our Accompanist

Samantha Arizmendi is a multi-instrumentalist who has accompanied the Swedish Glee Club since 2015. Her experience includes directing music at St. Anastasia Catholic Church in Waukegan, playing for veterans’ church services at Lovell Federal Health Care Center on the weekends, and accompanying the Filipino Choir of Lake County for their Simbang Gabi novena each Christmas season. She is also a singer-songwriter who enjoys recording her works from home and an instructor who adores teaching her students through Piano Power in Chicago.