WE ARE PLEASED TO WELCOME JOSHUA HABERMANN AS OUR NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR!
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O'ahu Choral Society’s Board of Directors has named Dr. Joshua Habermann as Artistic Director, effective July 1, 2021. Habermann brings 25 years of conducting experience, and will serve as the driving vision of OCS’s post-pandemic reemergence into the O'ahu arts community.
"On behalf of the board, we enthusiastically welcome Josh as our Artistic Director,” said Stephanie Morem, Board President. “We are confident that his choral directing experience and intuitive leadership skills will continue to fulfill OCS' mission and vision in creating music at the highest artistic level in Hawai'i." Habermann currently serves as the Chorus Director in the Jean D. Wilson Chorus Director Chair of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, the official 200-voice vocal ensemble of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Highlights include performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Verdi’s Requiem, Berlioz’ Damnation of Faust, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, and Britten’s War Requiem, which was performed for the national meeting of the American Choral Directors Association in 2013. |
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Habermann is also the Artistic Director of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, a nationally-acclaimed professional chamber choir based in New Mexico. Since joining the Chorale he has raised the ensemble’s artistic profile and broadened its programming to include choral-orchestral masterworks as well as cutting-edge a cappella programs. His prior experience includes preparing choruses for performances as Assistant Conductor of San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and serving on faculties at University of North Texas, San Francisco State University and the University of Miami.
“I am thrilled to be joining the O’ahu Choral Society and to be returning with my family to the islands,” said Habermann. “I believe choral music can serve as a model for our society, bringing together people of different backgrounds to serve a common purpose. There is nothing so thrilling as the sound of voices raised together in song, and I know gathering again after a long hiatus will be truly joyful. I am sincerely grateful for this opportunity, and I look forward to being a part of the Honolulu arts community.”
Habermann earned his DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin. He and his family have just made the official move to O’ahu after spending many summers and the pandemic year here, to be near extended family and to embark on his journey with OCS.
Habermann joins OCS in its 27th season. His first task will be to lead the planning of OCS’s 2021-2022 season following the organization’s transition out of the pandemic, and bolster their continued goal of being a passionate leader and contributor to the cultural and artistic vitality of Hawai’i. Pandemic guidelines allowing, OCS will introduce a full live concert season, with Habermann’s first concert tentatively scheduled for this fall.
“I am thrilled to be joining the O’ahu Choral Society and to be returning with my family to the islands,” said Habermann. “I believe choral music can serve as a model for our society, bringing together people of different backgrounds to serve a common purpose. There is nothing so thrilling as the sound of voices raised together in song, and I know gathering again after a long hiatus will be truly joyful. I am sincerely grateful for this opportunity, and I look forward to being a part of the Honolulu arts community.”
Habermann earned his DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin. He and his family have just made the official move to O’ahu after spending many summers and the pandemic year here, to be near extended family and to embark on his journey with OCS.
Habermann joins OCS in its 27th season. His first task will be to lead the planning of OCS’s 2021-2022 season following the organization’s transition out of the pandemic, and bolster their continued goal of being a passionate leader and contributor to the cultural and artistic vitality of Hawai’i. Pandemic guidelines allowing, OCS will introduce a full live concert season, with Habermann’s first concert tentatively scheduled for this fall.
"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." - Plato
