Jon Washburn

Jon Washburn is the founder, artistic director and long-time conductor of the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Canada’s outstanding professional vocal ensemble. He has earned international acclaim for mastery of choral technique and interpretation, traveling widely as guest conductor, lecturer, clinician and master teacher. He conducts dozens of performances each year, has recorded nearly 50 CDs and offers many workshops for choral conductors, composers, students and singers.

Washburn is a noted champion of new choral repertoire, having commissioned and premiered over 250 new compositions by Canadian, American and European composers. He has conducted thousands of performances of works by Canadian composers, for which he received the Friends of Canadian Music Award from the Canadian League of Composers and Canadian Music Centre. In 2001 he was given the Order of Canada (the nation’s highest civilian honour), in 2002 received Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee Medal, recognizing his lifetime contribution to Canadian arts and culture, and most recently was awarded a star on Vancouver’s Entertainment Walk of Fame.

Jon Washburn is a noted authority on choral repertoire and programming as well as a distinguished teacher of choral conducting, leading the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s annual week-long National Conductors’ Symposium. He has shared conducting workshops with many other notable choral musicians such as Eric Ericson, Margaret Hillis, Wayne Riddell, Dennis Keene and Gregg Smith. In recent years he has worked with young conductors during residencies at the Universities of Indiana, Cincinnati and Rio de Janeiro.

He is an active composer, arranger, lyricist and editor. His music is widely performed and recorded around the world. He is currently Contributing Editor for two major choral music publishers: Walton Music of North Carolina and G. Schirmer Music of New York.