Afton Mancini

I am from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to pursue a music career. I attended Oklahoma City University in 2004 for Vocal Music Education with a piano emphasis, but left after a semester, discerning that college was not the right decision. After spending a year back home, working odd jobs, I packed up again and moved West to Phoenix, Arizona to attend The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences to study audio engineering and production. I ended up in Los Angeles because of an internship at The Compound Studio in Long Beach and wound up on my first short tour with the prog rock band, Spock’s Beard. Through that connection, the next five years I worked as a production manager, audio technician, and later, a brief backing vocalist for the band, Tears For Fears, on tour worldwide, as well as with Curt Smith’s solo project at venues in and around Los Angeles. While not on the road, I built a healthy roster of private music students and sang with the Pasadena Pro Musica choir for four seasons. I was frequently hired for session work and teaching opportunities during this time, and I served as the general music education teacher at Glendale Montessori Elementary School from 2012 until the school's closure in the Fall of 2013. Later that year, under the pen-name Sangster, I released a five-song EP of original music titled “Human Becoming”, for which I played many live shows to support. The following two years, I was performing primarily in jazz settings, often with my then-boyfriend-now-husband, jazz vibraphonist Nick Mancini, at various venues and concert series, such as Vitello’s (E-Spot Lounge) and Blue Whale. That same summer, I was the sole vocalist on a record of original chamber music by flutist and composer, Leah Paul, called "We Will Do The Worrying," which received positive reviews by the LA Times and WNYC. Also in 2015, I became an active member and soloist in Pasadena Master Chorale (now Pasadena Chorale). I worked as a professional Christmas caroler from 2015 through 2017 (The Voices of Christmas and The Charles Dickens Carolers), singing in quartets around Southern California during the holiday season in full Dickensian garb. In the Fall semester of 2016, I became the vocal music specialist at Vista Del Mar School in Cheviot Hills, coaching the students for their holiday concerts and productions. In the fall of 2017, I became the new soprano section leader and soloist at the historic St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Glendale, CA. In the Fall of 2018, I was hired by Pasadena Master Chorale to conduct over 200 Pasadena area students from five different middle schools for their annual Choral Festival hosted by PMC, where PMC and the PUSD high schools performed. In addition to my job at St. Mark's, I occasionally appeared as a guest soloist and ringer for various churches and synagogues in Los Angeles. In the Fall of 2019, my husband and I welcomed our first child, a daughter named Minerva. Once the pandemic lockdowns had been extended into the Summer of 2020, we made the difficult decision to move to my hometown of Tulsa in May, after nearly 14 years in LA. Quickly upon arriving, I was hired as the new Soprano soloist and section leader at the historic Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Tulsa, and worked on building a new vocal studio, slowly but surely. In of September 2021, I was hired as a staff Soprano with the renowned Chamber Singers at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Tulsa, and also a Soprano for the Oklahoma Bach Choir with director Joseph Arndt. In January of 2023, we welcomed our second child, a son named Maximilian “Max”, who was born with a severe congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He has had two of three open heart surgeries to bridge him to an eventual heart transplant later in life and he is now home after almost his whole first year spent in the Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. Despite all of Max’s medical complexities, life marches on. In 2023, I launched a professional Christmas caroling company, The Tulsa Carolers, and we have enjoyed two successful seasons so far, and look forward to another great year. As of Advent of 2024, I have been working as a staff Soprano for Christ the King Catholic Church in Tulsa, and have joined the bell choir for fun, which is proving to be just that!