Sandra Joy Friesen is a pianist with a broad range of repertoire and musical interests, from traditional to contemporary, to interpretation of pictorial scores and interdisciplinary collaboration. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Canada, in the United States, in Austria, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Mexico, Poland, and Slovenia. As a music educator since 1992, Sandra Joy has studied the developments in piano techniques, styles and aesthetics from the past century and has dedicated a large part of her career to lecture-recitals, presentations and workshops on contemporary music. After 16 years of professional work in British Columbia, she pursued doctoral studies at the University of Alberta. In 2009, her studies in improvisation and free-interpretation with Douglas Finch (London, England) became a turning point in her musical artistry, and this practice continues to be a source of inspiration. During this time, she and visual artist Werner Friesen began interdiscipinary performance blending music with live-response painting, and became members of the "eXperimental improv Music Ensemble" in Edmonton, AB, integrating artistic disciplines with composers, dancers, and actors. As a collaborative duo, RESPONS2, they continue the interdisciplinary activity in performance and in workshops for college/university students.