“My job is to make people love choral music as much as I do, and that’s a lot. I really love choral music. My job is to say ‘you should care about this.’ You might care about it because it’s ravishingly beautiful or because it has a story to tell you. Even if you’re not a person who relates to choral music, you can relate to stories. We’re going to weave some sort of through-line through this program that tells you something about life that we hope resonates with you whether you’re a musician or not.”

Joshua Habermann is in his seventeenth season as Artistic Director of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, one of the nation’s premiere professional chamber choirs. Since joining the ensemble, he has broadened its repertoire to include choral-orchestral masterworks and unique concert experiences ranging from early music to new commissions. Under his leadership, the Desert Chorale has been featured at regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, and its summer and winter festivals are among America’s largest choral events.

Habermann’s experience with symphonic choruses spans over three decades, encompassing the full range of the choral-orchestral repertoire. From 2011 to 2022 he was director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, where highlights included Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, the Requiem Masses of Mozart, Brahms, and Verdi, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony, Rachmaninov’s The Bells, and Vaughan-Williams’ Sea Symphony. He is a frequent guest conductor, and in 2022-2023 prepared Handel’s Messiah, Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe, and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem for the San Francisco Symphony.

A passionate advocate for music education, Joshua Habermann is a regular clinician for state and national events and has led honor choirs and choral festivals in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In 2024, he conducted Cantatas 72, 73 and 92 for Bach Santiago (Chile), a concert series dedicated to the first full cycle of Bach Cantatas in South America. He currently teaches choral literature at the University of North Texas.

As a singer (tenor), Habermann has performed with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus under Helmuth Rilling and Conspirare under Craig Hella Johnson. Recording credits include Requiem and Threshold of Night, both GRAMMY® nominees for best choral recording. Recordings as a conductor include The Road Home and Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil with the Desert Chorale.

To get in touch with Joshua, you can find him on Facebook (@joshua.habermann) or visit the Santa Fe Desert Chorale website, desertchorale.org.

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Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson