Blazing a successful musical career path as a percussionist, Sandra Noriega, a 1985 CSU East Bay alumna, was forced to readjust her career aspirations after experiencing a resurgence of the polio virus from childhood.
Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) may have won the battle with performing as a professional timpanist, but it hasn’t won the war, according to Noriega.
Born in Puerto Rico in 1955, Noriega contracted polio shortly afterward.
The first evidence of the muscle paralyzing disease, in the form of PPS, returned during her performance with the Redwood Symphony in 1988 while performing the Milhaud, Percussion Concerto.
“As I was nearing the last measures of the piece, I looked up at my left hand and was shocked to see that it was shaking—but the weirdest thing was that I could not feel it shaking,” said Noriega, evidence that PPS can affect victims 35 to 40 years after the initial onset.
Noriega was a San Fransisco Conservatory of Music rising star as the first woman to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance in 1983.
As a percussionist working primarily with a timpani, or kettle drums, Noriega became CSUEB’s first woman to earn a master’s degree in Percussion Performance in 1985, with Artie Storch as her professor.
“I first met Sandra Noriega in 1984. At that time, she impressed me as a bright, competent player. Helping her prepare for her recital was rewarding for both of us,” said Storch.
As the tenured principal timpanist with the legendary Women’s Philharmonic from 1980 to 2004, Noriega recorded four CDs with works by women composers on the Koch International label.
While her struggle to continue performing increased each season, Noriega succeeded, believing the PPS had won the battle.
“Bummer, I thought I was headed to New York to attempt becoming the first woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in Musical Arts from Juilliard,” said Noriega. “But, I did continue to perform with the Women’s Philharmonic up until it dissolved in 2004.”
Eventually, Noriega realized she had always wanted to conduct, and with it primarily being a “right-armed affair,” successfully auditioned at CSU Sacramento in 2006 for their post-master’s program.
“Noriega often pushes to tackle pieces even seasoned conductors find difficult,” said Dr. Robert Halseth, music professor at Sacramento State University.
Noriega is currently making waves around the world as she steps in front of orchestras as well as helping other women find success in percussion, a field where men have historically set the beat.
A charter member of Classical Musicians with Disabilities, Noriega is invited to participate in the inaugural season of the D Major International Music Festival in Kiev, Ukraine this fall.
“It would be an honor to have Ms. Noriega guest conduct some selections at either of the two orchestral concerts,” says Vivian Conejero, D.A. Music Director, Artistic Director, and Executive Director for the D Major International Music Festival in Keiv.
Noriega is also the co-director of Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, the nation’s first public music conservatory, is also founder and artistic director of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s Symphony Orchestra, now in its third season.
The orchestra is known to perform works by ethnically under-represented composers, female composers, living composers and standard repertoire.
For Yehudit Lieberman, retired assistant principal second violin for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, working with Noriega and seeing her perform has been impressive and striking.
“Ms. Noriega relates well to a diverse group of people. She is always patient and good-humored, without compromising her insistence on high musical standards,” said Lieberman. “She has an extremely clear beat, [which] is particularly important when working with musicians of various levels of performance skills.”
The Orchestra has continued to improve under her direction as her programming mixes standard repertoire with seldom-heard pieces by minority and women composers, according to Lieberman.
Noriega serves as assistant conductor of Community Women’s Orchestra as well, one of only three Women’s Orchestras in the U.S.
According to Noriega, “Inspiring someone else to go for their dreams, to go with what resonates within, despite the exterior circumstances surrounding their life, I’ve gained everything.
Creating opportunities for the success of others, and being there to congratulate them on that success is truly a motivating force,” said Noriega.  “Doing these things actually makes me happier than making music.”