Brian Gendron: choirs

Brian Gendron is the Director of Choral Activities at Virginia Tech, where he conducts four ensembles and teaches applied voice and choral literature. Choirs under his direction have collaborated with the Virginia Tech Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. They also perform regularly with the New River Valley Symphony Orchestra, most recently with Gendron conducting Beethoven’s Mass in C Major.

In addition to his responsibilities at Virginia Tech, Gendron is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Blacksburg Master Chorale (BMC). Under his direction, the BMC has performed a wide variety of choral-orchestral works, including Bach’s Mass in B minor, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Corigliano’s Fern Hill, and Pärt’s Te Deum. Since his appointment in 2003, the BMC has expanded through the addition of the Community Children’s Chorus and the Blacksburg Master Singers, a chamber choir selected from the BMC membership. Gendron conducts the Chamber Orchestra and Chorus for the Annual Blacksburg Bach Festival and serves as Chorus Master for select Opera Roanoke productions, including Handel’s Acis and Galatea. He has been invited to join the faculty at Hollins University for 2006-2007.

Prior to his appointment at Virginia Tech, Gendron was a music educator at the middle school and high school levels in Michigan and conducted the University Chorus, University Singers, and Varsity Men’s Glee Club at the University of Illinois. He also served as Director of Music for churches in Michigan and Illinois. Gendron earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has also completed his residency for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting. He performed with Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, Cantate in Bloomfield Hills, MI, and the Dennis Keene Choral Festival Chamber Choir in Kent, CT.

Gendron is active as an adjudicator, guest conductor and clinician, and has received invitations to conduct performances at state conferences of the Virginia Music Educators Association and Virginia Music Teachers Association. He has appeared as guest conductor in Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Michigan. Upcoming engagements include Durufle’s Requiem for the Music on the Corner Concert Series in Roanoke VA and Chorus Master for two Opera Roanoke productions: Britten’s Noah’s Flodde and Verdi’s Macbeth. He will also prepare choruses for a Spring 2007 performance of Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem for the New River Valley Symphony Orchestra. His professional affiliations include the American Choral Director’s Association, College Music Society, International Federation of Choral Music, and Music Educator’s National Conference.