sandra emilia calderaro, is the program director of mlk, as well as, the teacher for it's Italian language program, l'ora dei bimbi.

Sandra is an Associate of the Ontario College of Art. During her studies at the Ontario College of Art she received a photography scholarship and spent one year in Florence, Italy, where she studied fine art and Italian. After returning to Toronto in 1989, she studied art history and earned a Bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Guelph. At the same time, she completed her piano studies and received her ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She has continued to follow her love and passion for music through 20 years of teaching piano. Sandra’s consuming interest in design led her to enrich her talents by completing courses in computer graphics at Sheridan College, typography at the Ontario College of Art and graphic design at Yale University in Switzerland. Sandra then spent five years working as a graphic designer.

After leaving the work force to have her first child, Sandra’s inability to find a baby program to help her introduce Italian to her child prompted her to start l’ora dei bimbi together with her mother anna calderaro. Having been raised in Italy, Anna brings to the program an authentic Italian experience by sharing the songs and poetry that she recalls hearing during her childhood. Together they have selected a repertoire of Italian material to share with Canadian Italian families hoping that through word of mouth they will be passed on for generations to come.