“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.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

“You’re not going to ask a bunch of choir directors to donate to your organization — you’re going to have to go find other people who probably don’t have the type of experience with choir that choral leaders do. It’s about trying to translate not just your own personal love of choir but the reason that your choir exists, what it does for its community and its participants, the impact that your choir has on various spheres of influences. How do you translate your value to intersect with what they value so that they can look at you and say ‘you’re a cause that I want to support’?”

Alex Gartner is an educator, conductor, and composer based in Pensacola, Florida. He serves as the Artistic & Executive Director of the Pensacola Children's Chorus, where he oversees 9 resident choirs and 5 regional choirs comprised of nearly 300 singers. Combined, these programs reach an audience of 25,000 individuals, including 5,000 youth, throughout Northwest Florida.

Gartner is an active clinician, workshop presenter, and guest conductor. He has served in leadership positions with the American Choral Directors Association and Americans for the Arts, and his choirs are active throughout Northwest Florida, the United States, and the world. An accomplished composer, his arrangements are available through Santa Barbara Music Publishing, the Lorenz Corporation, Choristers Guild, Alfred Music Publishing, and MusicSpoke.

To get in touch with Alex, you can visit his website, alexgartner.com, or the Pensacola Children's Chorus website, pensacolasings.org. You can also email him at agartner@acda.org.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

“It's hard to focus on anything educationally if certain basic needs aren't being met, so you're trying to navigate and be proactive as much as possible. I have students who have their own needs and things they're going through that are influencing the classroom. Every year, every group, it's a different dynamic. Every student in this group deserves the opportunity to have a good experience with this. Now, they've got to buy in a little bit. They've got to own their piece of it. You can't do it all for them, but they all deserve the opportunity to succeed in that class."

Philip Brown is the director of vocal music at Liberty High School. Additionally he looks forward to collaborations and projects with the Allegro Youth Choirs of Kansas City. He graduated summa cum laude from Bethany College (KS), majoring in K-12 music education and vocal performance. He later received his M.M. degree in music education from Northern Arizona University.

Before returning back to Missouri, Philip started his school teaching in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado (Arvada West High School). Then in Minnesota, he taught at 4 different high schools in the twin cities area over the course of twenty years. Additionally, he spent 15 years conducting the high school choirs with the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs organization.

Philip was honored as the 2011 ACDA-MN Young Director of the Year. He was selected as the Director of Note for Minnesota by Choral Director Magazine in 2012. In 2013 he received the VocalEssence/ACDA-MN Creative Programming Award for his repertoire philosophy and programming. Philip was named the Bethany College (KS) Gold Award recipient in 2015 and was the Winner of the Youth Choir Conducting Division for The American Prize 2016, and again in 2020. He was the featured community member in the Eden Prairie Lifestyle Magazine for 2020. He conducted the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs - Treble Singers at the 2019 National ACDA Conference in his hometown of Kansas City, and the Cantanti Singers at the 2025 National ACDA Conference in Dallas.

His choral groups have been selected for performances at state, regional, and national conferences for ACDA, NAfME, and Chorus America. Choirs under his conducting have collaborated with the Minnesota Oratorio Society, Minnesota Choral Artists - The Singers, Great Northern Union, VocalEssence, Northern Lights Chorale, Cantus, National Lutheran Choir, Singers in Accord, and multiple university choirs. His choirs have consistently received superior ratings, best in class awards, and grand sweepstakes awards at various music festivals and competitions.

Philip has given presentations and clinics on: rehearsal techniques that energize and engage singers, small ensemble singing strengthening the full ensemble, incorporating technology in the music rehearsal, student-driven assessments, and commissioning new choral works. He is an active clinician and guest conductor, is professionally affiliated with ACDA and NAfME, and is the High School Repertoire & Resource chair for ACDA.

To get in touch with Philip, you can find him on Facebook (@philip.m.brown.79) or email him at philip.m.brown.79@gmail.com. Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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