Pride month is here and we’re thrilled to feature an interview with Local 802 member Sandy Sahar Gooen, the founder of TEMPO, the Trans & Gender Expansive Music Professional Organization.

According to his website, Sandy is “a smart, sensitive, silly, queer trans man; a multilingual multidisciplinary artist, with a warm, wide tenor+ vocal range; a curvy, leggy brunette; and a 5-foot-2 bundle of dynamite!”

Sandy, a member of the union since 2019, also tells us that he is a proud “multi-hyphenate” in the music and theater worlds, with a BA in music from Barnard/Columbia, an MFA from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and many credits ranging from music direction, music copy work, writing, performance, and other related music and production roles.

Sandy says he founded TEMPO as an answer to the barriers trans people face in music and to fight as allies alongside Maestra and other organizations for gender equality.

Allegro reached out to Sandy to ask him about his musical journey and his thoughts on the state of pride in the industry today.

ALLEGRO: Hello, Sandy! Tell us about your earliest experiences with music.

SANDY: I was born into a very musical family. A few highlights from the early years: my grandmother gave me a violin when I was 5; I studied piano and theory pretty early on with my friend’s grandmother, Tatiana; I loved drums and percussion from a super early age; and even earlier, I used the music of the Beatles to communicate with my mother since my speech was delayed. My mom was a music and theater counselor at one point, my sister was a singer/songwriter, my dad is a fabulous avocational pianist and guitarist, and my grandpa even minored in music. Also, fun fact: a distant uncle of mine, Lou Levy, was a music publisher and manager and was married to Maxene Andrews of the Andrews sisters (look up their story if you’re curious, it’s a wild coincidence to be related to him), but none of my close family works in music, they’re just all really musical. As far as exposure, I was raised on a lot of classical and rock music, Jewish music, and eventually musical theater and jazz. I got to see Elton John and Ben Folds live pretty early on, as well as (the remainder of) The Who, Ringo Starr and Sheila E.

ALLEGRO: Talk about your first musical experiences in school, including any teachers who were most important to you.

SANDY: Two of the music teachers that led me down this path pre-college were Josh Ehrlich and Karen Notare. When I was in middle and high school, I needed a sense of purpose, and I found that purpose while coming to “Theory Thursdays” during lunch, or the discipline it took to go to rehearsal for chorus, or preparing for a concerto competition, or any number of other outlets these and other teachers gave me. Another early musical influence on me was my high school cello teacher, Tom, who snuck me DVDs of opera and orchestra performances before I’d ever really gone to the Met. And another professional named Matt Lowy music directed my shows at the JCC and showed me what true dedication was.

ALLEGRO: What were your earliest professional musical experiences?

SANDY: My earliest professional (or pre-professional) musical experience was with HaZamir: The International Youth Chorus at Carnegie Hall, led by Vivian and Matthew Lazar. I’d done some theater things even younger, but I was 13 making my debut at Carnegie Hall, with an incredibly rigorous choir.

ALLEGRO: Did you study music in college? If so, tell us about what this was like. Who were your teachers, what ensembles did you play with, and what was your biggest takeaway?

SANDY: I studied music at both Barnard/Columbia (undergrad) and Boston Conservatory at Berklee (grad school). Undergrad was more classical and grad school was more musical theater. My most impactful college music teachers were Jeffrey Milarsky (conducting and orchestration), Josh Kight (musical theater), and Peter Susser (theory and ear training). My grad school mentor was Cathy Rand, who worked on singing, piano, musicianship, and coaching skills with me. I wrote two thesis research papers and did two graduation concerts, both of which were a lot of fun. My undergraduate research was on grief and collaboration between Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, and I got the opportunity to give a copy of my thesis to Alan himself. My graduate research got a shout out in the Journal of Singing and centered on revivals and vocal demands. In addition to my schoolwork, I got to do some music assisting at Musical Theater Factory and other places off campus. On campus, I had many arts roles, but specifically served on the music teams of “Evita,” and “Spring Awakening.” I also served as the orchestrator and conductor for a parody musical of the “Kill Bill” films. In grad school, I was a copyist for Broadway Band, a music director on and off campus, and a voice teacher. Will Curry (conducting) and Chris York (voice) are two teachers I had between college and grad school who still to this day are very supportive and influential to me.

ALLEGRO: What has been your favorite or most important gig over the years?

SANDY: The most important gig is and always will be Broadway Backwards. It is a night that raises money for charity, while also fundamentally broadening who can do what musically. That means the world to me, and I am so grateful to Danny Whitman, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Ted Arthur, and everyone at Broadway Cares for having me on as a music assistant pretty consistently. If I’m lucky and my wildest dreams come true, I’ll be involved with that music team in some fashion for as long as I can and continue to find other ways to use music to change hearts, minds, and lives. It has taught me skills that carry over into other gigs and brought me close to some of my dearest friends and role models.

ALLEGRO: When you think of who has taught you the most on a gig, who comes to mind?

SANDY: It’s a fine line between being grateful and coming across as name-droppy, but I love so many people in this business. Rather than single each one out, I’ll say that there have been other teachers, colleagues, and mentors recently who have made a massive difference in my life, I’ve been very lucky between Maestra and the other RISE partner organizations, MTF (Musical Theater Factory), private instruction and meetings, and my contemporaries and friends who make it so fun to do what we do. Also, my students teach me an awful lot.

ALLEGRO: What was one of the funniest things that happened to you on a gig?

SANDY: Definitely the “Kill Bill” musical parody that I mentioned above, during which I conducted with a glowstick for a scene where the entire theater was in pitch darkness.

ALLEGRO: As we enter Pride Month, what would you like to say about the state of pride in the music industry or in the particular fields where you work?

SANDY: As far as LGBT music organizations, I’ll shout out Queer Capita, The International Pride Orchestra, The NYC Gay Men’s Chorus, TRANScend, Ring of Keys, and I’m going to make another plug for TEMPO and for the importance now more than ever of trans inclusion. There are many other LGBT musicians and music pros out there, and a few more who I feel a deep affinity for are Billy Tipton, Emily Grishman, Elton John, Leonard Bernstein, and my TEMPO colleague, Anessa Marie Scolpini. I bring up Billy Tipton particularly because he was a trans man and a bandleader whose career began about 90 years ago. And he had to be closeted in order to survive, but that is who he was, a man of trans experience, like me. We’ve been here; we’re not new.

ALLEGRO: Why do you think unions are important or valuable or necessary for musicians?

SANDY: My first audition for a Broadway show as a performer was when I was 12 years old, for “Billy Elliot.”  I learned many things throughout the process of seeing and auditioning for that show, including the importance of unions. I am now a proud member of 802, Equity, and the Dramatists Guild (which is not a union but not unlike one in some ways), and the common thread between them is the power of collective bargaining and solidarity as people, workers, and artists. We keep each other safe and empower one another.

ALLEGRO: Let’s say you meet a young person who’s obsessed with becoming a professional musician and is willing to do whatever it takes. What’s your best advice for someone like that?

SANDY: You don’t know what you don’t know. Surround yourself with people who humble you and listen to them. Practice more than you think you need to, even if it’s in small chunks and broken down, and it’s always great to read and learn, but the best way to learn is by doing.

ALLEGRO: Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

SANDY: I also play the harmonica and my chromatic harmonica is named “Chromatica” after the Lady Gaga album. I am still in my 20s, so I am still fairly emerging, and I hope some of my best years are ahead of me in terms of gigs, opportunities and my life as a whole, but I have to express gratitude at every chance I get for even making it this far, and admire how far we’ve come even in my lifetime. Even though the world is a little bleak at the moment, I do believe there are ways in which we’ve progressed. There are many things I do hope to make happen, not only for myself, but for the community, too. The work I do with TEMPO is helping people open doors and understand their strengths, and that diversity is a strength we as musicians all benefit from. We’ll have more programming later in the summer and in early fall (some for trans people specifically, some for everyone!), and I’ll be looking for more music and theater projects and collaborators starting then, as well. Music was my initial access to communication, and frankly, still is a way I can best understand and be understood by others. I believe music is one of the things that can bring people together through everything.

You can find Sandy Sahar Gooen on Instagram at @silentwhat and also at www.sandysahargooen.com