Music Addition, MA066
Biography
Chris Albanese is Pam and Jack Burks Associate Professor of Choral Conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he conducts the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers and teaches graduate and undergraduate level conducting courses. He concurrently serves as Music Director of the Akron Symphony Chorus with whom he has prepared choruses for performances of Carmina Burana, Mozart Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Handel’s Messiah, Brahms Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Bonds’s The Ballad of the Brown King, and the world premiere of Julia Perry’s Framenti dalle lettere di Santa Caterina, among other works.
Before Indiana, Albanese was a member of the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble Chanticleer with whom he toured across the United States and abroad, performing at venues including Los Angeles’ Disney Concert Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Prague’s Rudolfinum, Paris’ Oratorie du Louvre, and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater. His performances were broadcast by public radio and NPR affiliates in Minneapolis, New York, Seattle, Denver, and Cincinnati, and he appeared with Chanticleer as a featured guest on The Hallmark Network’s Home and Family.
With the Singing Hoosiers, Albanese has led collaborations with a range of artists including Sylvia McNair, Tim Noble, Dr. Raymond Wise, Jeff Nelsen, Dale Clevenger, Peter Volpe, Zeshan B., Brian Horne, and Katherine Jolly. He has prepared the ensemble for performances with Sandi Patty, the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic, and the Carmel Symphony. He has both arranged and commissioned new arrangements of the music of Hoagy Carmichael and produced the 90-minute radio variety program Hoosiers Live from Home for WFIU (Indiana Public Media) in February 2021. Under his direction, the Singing Hoosiers received the honor of performing at the 2021 and 2025 National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA.)
An active performer, Albanese’s recent solo performances include engagements with the Indianapolis Opera, Akron Symphony Orchestra (Carmina Burana, Mozart Requiem), Skylark Vocal Ensemble, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Dayton Opera, and Chamber Fest Brown County, where he performed Britten’s Canticle III with Oto Carillo (horn, Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and Konstantyn Travinskyy (piano). He continues to perform frequently as a choral singer, most notably with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and Skylark Vocal Ensemble, with whom he has recorded multiple albums and recently performed as soloist in the premiere of Peter Mansfield’s setting of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” to positive review from Lee Eiseman of the Boston Music Intelligencer.
An active clinician and adjudicator, Albanese has facilitated master classes throughout the United States and Europe. He has served as a guest conductor, clinician, and/or presenter for the American Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Education Association, Michigan School Vocal Music Association, Ohio Music Education Association, Indiana State School Music Association, Indiana Music Education Association, Music America, Chanticleer Youth Choral Festival, and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He previously served as choral music teacher at Archbishop McNicholas High School (Cincinnati, OH).
Albanese received his BM in Music Education and Vocal Performance from the University of Dayton, an MM in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University, and DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music where he was a student of Earl Rivers and Brett Scott.