The School of Music is thrilled to announce Albert Pinsonneault as the incoming Associate Director of Choral Studies starting this fall. Pinsonneault will teach choir, conducting, and the graduate choral literature seminar.

“I am so honored to join the faculty at the Mead Witter School of Music and to begin my work making art collaboratively in this community,” Pinsonneault said. “I have a lifelong passion for ensemble singing and I am grateful for the opportunity to share, critically examine, and produce music here.”

Pinsonneault is founder and artistic director of the Madison Choral Project, a 24-voice professional chamber choir based in Madison. A fierce advocate for new music, he has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works for choir. He received second place in the American Prize for Professional Choirs in 2020, performed at Midwestern ACDA Regional conferences (2018, 2020), presented at ACDA National in 2017, and will headline the Iowa Choral Directors Association state conference in 2024. His booklet Choral Intonation is published through Graphite and in active use at over 150 high schools, universities, churches, and community choruses.

Pinsonneault was Director of Choral Activities at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where he oversaw a large undergraduate choral program involving 200 student musicians, a nationally televised Christmas program, and a history of international travel. From 2015-2019 he was Associate Director of Choral Organizations at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where he helped administer a distinguished doctoral program in choral conducting, led two choirs, taught the graduate choral literature sequence, and served on dissertation committees.

A native of Minnesota, Pinsonneault attended St. Olaf College (BM Piano Performance) and the University of Minnesota (MM Choral Conducting) before completing his studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (DMA Choral Conducting, minor in Music Theory).