Kimberley Akester, Principal

Kimberley has been a professional singer and singing teacher since graduating from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991.

Her first job with the internationally acclaimed vocal group The Swingle Singers enabled her to travel the world, working with Chicago, Boston, Toronto and London Symphony orchestras as well as recording albums and appearing world-wide on radio and TV.

Kimberley can be heard on numerous Hollywood film soundtracks such as Evita, Phantom of the Opera, The Prince of Egypt, Romeo and Juliet and most recently the musical movie 'Nine' starring Nicole Kidman.
She has sung in many musicals and most recently played the role of Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera in Londons West End. She continues to work as a session singer in London and performs in concerts all over Europe.

As a respected singing teacher and vocal coach, Kimberley has taught privately for 15 years but specializes in leading workshops and running choirs in schools all over England and Sweden such as Kulterama, Stagecoach, Step-up UK and Theatre Train.

She has worked in mainstream education in the UK for many years and since arriving in Sweden has worked with Stockholm International School, Tanto School, Mother Goose International Pre-School, Futuraskolan, Bromma International School, and British International Primary School.

Faye Austin

Originally from London England, Faye has been here in Sweden for almost 4 years now.
She trained in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music and since graduating has travelled and performed extensively as a singer and actress. Working in Paris, London and the US, Faye has worked at the world famous Moulin Rouge, and performed the role of Fantine in Les Miserables in London.

Between 2004-2006 she was the Company Manager for the Jean Ann Ryan production Company performing in Andrew Lloyd Webbers Music of the Night and Serj Trujilio s Bollywood. She has taught master classes in Musical theatre both here in Sweden and in London and loves working with the SITS kids!

She is also one third of the widely acclaimed and successful vocal harmony group,3 s Company…

Colleen Persson

My name is Colleen Persson and I am the drama teacher at the Stockholm school. As my name implies I am half English, half Swedish, but I have spent most of my life in Stockholm. When I'm not teaching drama I am a student at Stockholm University studying drama and music . I was bitten by the theatre bug at the age of five (a good age to start) and have been involved in magical world of the stage ever since. Over the last few years I have moved away from the stage to behind the scenes, working mainly with teaching and directing, but since the theatres I find myself in are small, my tasks also include lighting, costumes, make-up etc…

Teaching and working with children have always been two of my favorite things, it is so rewarding to see my pupils develop and perform. In my classes we play a lot of games and the main focus is on improvisational theatre. We get together for an hour and share a lot of laughs as intricate plots and hilarious characters evolve

Eva Malmgren

Eva Malmgren studied at the conservatory in Göteborg and then finished her studies in Italy.

She has done a number of leading parts in both musical theatre and opera such as Phantom of the Opera , CATS, Barber of Seville, Die Enführung aus dem Serail ….both in Sweden and abroad.

She has taught at estetiska programmet (Highschool for music an drama) in Malmö and enjoys coaching young artists.

Kajsa Berg

Kajsa is in her final year at Gothenburg's performing arts school. She is originally from Norrköping where she attended the music gymnasium De Geer. She has performed all over Sweden in shows such as Evita, Aspects of love and The merry widow. She has trained in voice, theatre and dance and SITS is very happy to have her as it's resident dance teacher in Gothenburg.

She has previously worked as a gymnastics teacher for children and last year she worked as assisting dance teacher here at Sits.

Ida Engman

I'm the dance teacher at SITS in Stockholm.

I didn't discover singing and dancing until the age of 15 but when I finally did, I was totally amazed by this new way of expression and communication.

I graduated from Performing Arts School in Gothenburg 2007 and have also studied Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm. Since then I have mostly been working as a show artist in both singing and dancing. Being a student for many years and meeting all kinds of teachers, my curiosity for teaching started to grow.

I'm very happy to be a part of the team at SITS. Not only do I have the benefit of working with experienced colleagues who inspire me but I also get to be a part of the kids journey, exploring new ways to communicate and developing ways to express their creativity.

Sonia Kamrani

Sonia Kamrani is a musical artist recently graduated from Balettakademien in Gothenburg 2008. Since then she has been working for The Scandinavian International Theatre School and Studio Danza as a dancing teacher and choreographer. This year she is also working full time with a children's theatre group called Teater Blaffa. She writes and produces plays about the environment and science for children in different museums in Gothenburg.

Sonia loves working with children. "No audience is more open, sincere and honest than young ones. The best part of teaching or working with children is that you learn new things everyday and you grow as a person."

Teri-Anne Brink

Originally from Singapore, Teri-Anne has been working with children for over 15 years. She was a member of The Singapore Repertory Theatre's Young Company and has been widely involved in the local theatre and arts scene in Singapore. She appeared in various local television sitcoms and was part of Singapore Action theatre's production of "Chang & Eng- the musical" which showcased in Beijing, China in 1998.

Teri-Anne studied English Literature and Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore. She moved to Sweden in 2003 where she worked as a preschool teacher at various international preschools in Gothenburg.

Mattias Lenhoff

Mattias is our new drama teacher in Malmö.

Mattias trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Since graduating in 1998, he has divided his time between Sweden and England working both on stage and in front of the camera in both countries.

He has performed in a wide range of theatrical roles, playing everything from farce to Greek tragedy. In 2008 he got raving reviews for his portrayal of Tom Sergeant in Skylight by David Hare at the Regina Theatre in Uppsala.

In recent years he has worked extensively on television: writing comedy, directing and acting. In 2010 he will be seen in "Hipp Hipp" and "Jonson och Pipen" on Swedish television.

Mattias has taught classes and led workshops in drama and film-making for both adults and kids. He is looking forward to being a part of the new Malmö branch of the Scandinavian International Theatre School and working with the kids.

Victoria Vikström

Victoria is our new dance teacher in Malmö.

Victoria started dancing when she was eight, and later entered the Swedish Ballet School in PiteŒ. At the age of 16, she began the three-year professional programme for dance.

Last spring, she graduated from the Ballet Academy in Gothenburg, where she participated in several dance and musical productions. After graduation, she worked as a dance teacher at the International English School in Stockholm, as well as a dancer in the Swedish-Finnish production "Mind the Gap", which is currently touring around northern Sweden and Finland.

Kay Standen

Kay recently graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire (UK), where she trained for 4 years as a singer. During her training, Kay took the opportunity to sing a variety of styles and genres, from early Baroque to contemporary Music Theatre and Pop. Kay has also worked with composers, performing premieres of new works.

Kay has taken many lead and chorus roles in various musicals, plays, concerts and operas, most notably Nancy (Oliver!), Mary Magdelene (Jesus Christ Superstar), Aglaura (Psyche), Casilda (The Gondoliers) and Anna (Regina Monologues). Kay also directed, produced and starred in the sell-out show Standen & Secker Sing Broadway, alongside Rosie Secker while studying together at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

As a teacher, Kay has been working with people of all ages for 6 years, leading choirs, teaching one-to-one and running workshops and small group sessions. She finds teaching incredible rewarding, and is always ready to learn new things from her students.