CSU Choral Conducting Workshop

Dr. David E. Hahn is the Paul S. and Jean R. Amos Distinguished Chair in Music and Director of Choral Activities at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University where he conducts the Schwob Singers, Repertory Singers, Choral Union, administers the graduate program in choral conducting, and teaches graduate conducting, choral literature, and undergraduate conducting. Hahn also serves as the founding Artistic Director and Administrator of the annual CSU Choral Conducting Workshop. Prior to his appointment at CSU, Hahn was the Director of Choral Activities (visiting) at the University of Toledo.

Recent honors include invitations to perform at the 2025 National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) National Conference in Fullerton CA, the 2025 SC-ACDA State Conference, the 2025 GMEA In-Service State Conference, and the 2024 GA-ACDA State Conference. The Schwob Singers were also invited to serve as the resident choir for the graduate conducting masterclass at the National Collegiate Choral Organization’s National Conference in 2023. Other notable conducting appearances include the Wintergreen Music Festival, The Dessoff Choirs, the Schwob Philharmonic, the Orchard Park Chorale, and ensembles at CCM, the Manhattan School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Michigan.

Hahn has commissioned and premiered new works by Adrian Wong, Han Lash, Karen Siegel, Michael Gilbertson, Trevor Weston, William Banfield, David Jex, Stephen Feigenbaum, and led a performance of the first multi-sensory work of its kind, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Jocelyn Hagen. Past projects include David Lang’s The National Anthems, Trevor Weston’s Mary’s Verses, Kile Smith’s timely setting of The Star-Spangled Banner, and John Corigliano‘s Fern Hill in which Hahn received the American Prize Ernst Bacon Award in the College & University division for his 2018 performance with the Eastman Repertory Singers.

Hahn remains active as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician with frequent invitations across the United States. As a passionate music educator, Hahn has led numerous young artist ensembles including honor choirs in GA and OH, the Michigan Youth Chamber Singers, and served as Director of Choirs at Nichols School in Buffalo, NY. Additionally, Hahn has sung with many distinguished ensembles including the two-time GRAMMY® Award-Winning Ensemble—The Washington Chorus, the GRAMMY® Award-Winning Ensemble—the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, the Chicago Choral Artists, the VOICES chamber choir, First Inversion, and the Eastman-Rochester Chorus.

Hahn holds graduate degrees in conducting from the University of Michigan (DMA) and the Eastman School of Music (MM), and an undergraduate degree in vocal performance and sacred music from Moody Bible Institute (BM) in Chicago, IL. He currently serves on the National Board of the National Collegiate Choral Organization and as Vice Chair of the Alumni Board of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan.

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Allen Hightower is a seventh generation Texan, and resides in McKinney, Texas with his wife, Dr. Kristin Hightower and their two daughters Caroline and Julianne. As the director of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas, Allen leads the master’s and doctoral programs in choral conducting, and oversees a comprehensive choral program of eight ensembles. Allen serves as the conductor of the UNT A Cappella Choir, and the UNT Grand Chorus which collaborates annually with the UNT Symphony Orchestra in performances of major choral-orchestral works. As a member of UNT’s Early Music faculty, he leads the vocal ensemble Vox Aquilae and its artistic partner the UNT Baroque Orchestra.

Since arriving at UNT in 2016, the A Cappella Choir has received invitations to perform for the Texas Music Educators Association in 2020, the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in 2021 and 2025, and the Southwestern Division of ACDA in 2022 and 2026. Vox Aquilae and the UNT Baroque Orchestra were featured at the January 2022 conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. In June of 2025, the A Cappella Choir won First Prize at the Marktoberdorf 19th International Chamber Choir Competition as part of an international tour of the Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria.

As a teacher and conductor, Dr. Hightower has visited 30 states, Asia, and Europe. His students hold positions of leadership as choral conductors in public schools, colleges and universities, and churches and community choirs throughout the United States.

Prior to his appointment at UNT, Dr. Hightower held the Weston Noble Endowed Chair in Music at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he served as conductor of the renowned Nordic Choir and artistic director of Christmas at Luther. As Luther’s Director of Choral Activities, he gave leadership to a choral program that included four conductors, six choirs, and over 530 singers. Under Dr. Hightower’s direction, the Nordic Choir performed at the 2014 North Central Division of ACDA, recorded six compact discs, made annual concert tours throughout the United States, and toured Europe on two occasions.

From 2000-2010, Dr. Hightower served as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at Sam Houston State University. During his tenure, the SHSU Chorale toured Europe, performed for the 2007 National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association, the 2010 Southwestern Division of ACDA, and the 2003, 2006, and 2010 conventions of the Texas Music Educators Association. His high school teaching career included tenures at Klein High School in Spring, Texas and at Odessa Permian High School in Odessa, where he led the PHS Kantorei and Satin Strings in performance at the 1996 TMEA convention.

Outside of his work in the academic setting, Allen has served as the Artistic Director of the Houston Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra, leading an annual concert series of choral-orchestral masterworks. As a deeply committed church musician, he has served Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches in Texas, California, and Minnesota. Allen currently serves on the music staff of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas where he leads the Gloria Dei Youth Choir involving well over 100 student singers as part of a comprehensive children’s and youth choir program of almost 400 young musicians. He has served as the Church Music Vice-President of the Texas Choral Directors Association. Dr. Hightower was as an Adjunct Professor of Conducting at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Hightower served as the interim Chorus Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra preparing the Chorus for conductors such as Juraj Valčuha, Itzhak Perlman, Matthew Halls, and Jeannette Sorrell. Allen is the Artistic Director of the Plano Civic Chorus, a large community-based ensemble presenting four concerts annually and frequently serving as the chorus for regional orchestras including the Plano Symphony and Richardson Symphony orchestras.

As a conducting student of the Texas choral legend Bev Henson, Allen earned his undergraduate degree in music education and piano from Sam Houston State University. He went on to earn a master’s degree in choral conducting from the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of Baroque scholar Alfred Mann, and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Baylor University, where he served as assistant conductor to Stephen Heyde and accompanist to Donald Bailey and the Baylor Chamber Singers. Allen earned his doctorate in conducting from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he served as assistant conductor to Donald Neuen. Hightower pursued additional orchestral conducting studies with Jung-Ho Pak at the University of Southern California, additional choral conducting studies with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College, and choral-orchestral conducting with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival. After winning first prize in the graduate division of the American Choral Directors Association’s Conducting Competition in 1997, Allen served as assistant to Paul Salamunovich, conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

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Alissa Mercurio Rowe, serves as Associate Professor. Galante Chair, and Director of Choral Studies at Louisiana State University where she conducts the LSU A Cappella Choir and leads the graduate choral conducting program. Under her leadership, the choral area has established an annual choral conducting intensive for aspiring conductors and a high school choral festival that serves hundreds of music educators annually. The choral area also holds an annual choral composing symposium providing a workshop space for Louisiana composers. In 2025, the LSU choirs performed abroad with the Vox Anima Festival in London and with Grammy Award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann. Dr. Rowe regularly commissions works and is an avid supporter of new music.

Dr. Rowe is an active adjudicator and guest conductor and has conducted numerous All-State and District Honor Choirs. She presented research on Individual Assessment in the Choral Rehearsal at the International Conference on Arts and Humanities and at the 2019 National American Choral Directors Association Conference. Prior to Dr. Rowe’s appointment at Louisiana State University, she served as Director of Choral Activities, vocal area chair, and head of graduate studies in music at Southeastern Louisiana University. While at Southeastern Louisiana University, Dr. Rowe received the President’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity. She also received the President’s Award from St. Tammany Parish President, Patricia C. Brister, as Musical Artist of the Year in St. Tammany Parish.

Dr. Rowe is also an accomplished soprano having performed as a soloist with the Tallahassee Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico). She also performed and recorded three roles in David Schiff’s opera Gimpel the Fool with Third Angle, Portland Oregon’s renowned new music ensemble. Dr. Rowe is a versatile performer who regularly performs a wide variety of works such as the Beethoven’s Mass in C, Messiah of Handel, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Schubert’s Mass in G, as well as opera roles in La Cenerentola, The Consul, Magic Flute and La Perichole, among others. Rowe released the album “Defining French Arias of Early 19th Century New Orleans” in October 2021 on Centaur Records.

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