Joshua Habermann

Joshua Habermann is in his fifteenth 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 such as Dancing the Mystery, a fusion of music and poetry created for the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association.

Habermann is a frequent clinician for state and national events, and has led honor choirs and choral festivals in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia. As a singer (tenor) he has performed with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus (Eugene, Oregon), and Conspirare (Austin, Texas). Recording credits include three projects with Conspirare: Through the Green Fuse, Requiem, a Grammy nominee for best choral recording in 2006, and Threshold of Night, a Grammy nominee for best choral recording and best classical album in 2009.

From 2011-2022 Joshua Habermann was director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, where he prepared the 200-voice chorus for classical and pops concerts. Highlights with the DSO include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Verdi’s Requiem, Elgarʻs Dream of Gerontius, Bernsteinʻs Kaddish Symphony, and Britten’s War Requiem, which was performed for the ACDA national convention in 2013. International collaborations include Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Duruflé’s Requiem with the Swedish Radio Orchestra, and choral/orchestral performances with the DSC in Spain, France, Sweden, Estonia and Finland.

Prior to his Dallas appointment, Habermann was Director of Choral Studies at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he led the graduate program in conducting and collaborated with the New World Symphony and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas in music of Ives, Schubert and Beethoven. During this same period Habermann led the Masterchorale of South Florida in performances of masterworks such as Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Mozart’s Requiem.

From 1996-2008 Habermann was assistant conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and professor of music at San Francisco State University, where under his direction the SFSU Chamber Singers received international engagements in Havana, Cuba, and undertook concert tours in Germany, Czech Republic, and China. National invitations include the Waging Peace Festival in Eugene, Oregon, multiple appearances at the California Music Educators Convention, and a performance at the American Choral Directors’ Association regional convention in 2008.

Since moving with his family to Honolulu, Joshua Habermann was named Artistic Director of the Oʻahu Choral Society, and led the ensemble’s post-pandemic return to singing in performances of Mozart and Sibelius works with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra.

A passionate advocate for music education, Joshua Habermann continues to teach graduate choral literature classes at the University of North Texas, and serves on the choral faculty for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.