James A. John

James A. John is associate professor and director of choral activities at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College-CUNY, and artistic director of the Manhattan-based vocal ensemble, Cerddorion, a select chamber choir dedicated to adventurous programs that span the breadth of the choral repertoire. Recent guest conducting appearances include Avery Fisher Hall’s annual Messiah Sing-In, Brahms’s Requiem with the Tokyo Oratorio Society, concerts of American choral music with the Virginia Chorale, chorus master for the Queens Symphony, and a recording with jazz trumpeter Michael Mossman. He has led performances by the Queens College Choir at both the 2010 New York State School Music Association Convention and ACDA’s 2012 Eastern Division Conference. As a teacher and scholar, John has served as guest lecturer in conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, and presented seminars on American choral music in Basel and Stockholm.  His dissertation on Brahms's Nänie, Op. 82 won ACDA’s Julius Herford Prize and will be published soon in revised form as a book by The Edwin Mellen Press. His articles have appeared in Choral Journal, American Choral Review, and the Research Memorandum Series and he was appointed editor of American Choral Review in July 2011.