Dr. John Hooper

Jubiloso! (Handbell Ensemble)
Conducting
Choral Methods and Choral Literature
Advanced Composition

email:  john.hooper@concordia.ab.ca
telephone:  (780) 479-9301
office:  Alumni Hall, office A306

Dr. John Hooper is Professor of Music at Concordia University College of Alberta where he serves as Academic Head of the School of Music, teaching conducting, theory, and aural skills. He earned his D.M.A. in choral music from Arizona State University as well as degrees in theory and composition from A.S.U. and James Madison University in Virginia. Dr. Hooper furthered his studies under Dr. Richard Sparks, Maestro Frieder Bernius, Maestro Peter Phillips, and Dr. René Clausen through grants from the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund.

As a choral conductor, he has led many university, community, semi-professional, secondary school, and church choirs. The Concordia Concert Choir, under his leadership, has continued its long tradition by expanding its repertoire, visibility, and performance opportunities. The choir has toured extensively, including Canada, the United States, and Europe. In addition, they have been invited to sing at music festivals, choral conferences, teacher conventions, and special events for the church and the community. Under Hooper's direction, the choir released three compact discs, the most recent released in the summer of 2002. Concert performances and recordings have received excellent reviews – a "bona fide died-and-gone-to-heaven experience," according to the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. He also was the founding conductor of Sine Nomine, a community-based young adult choir started in 2000 to focus on sacred choral music.

Dr. Hooper established the handbell program at Concordia, having conducted the Concordia Handbell Ensemble and Jubiloso!, an auditioned community handbell choir which has twice performed at the Handbell Guilds of Canada's biennial national convention, The Ringing Link. Dr. Hooper was a featured conductor at the 2008 Ringing Link in London, Ontario. He was invited by the Handbell Guilds of Canada to be the Canadian conductor at the International Handbell Symposium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in August 2006. There he also taught masterclasses on advanced conducting technique. His conducting teaching continued at the 2008 International Handbell Symposium and the National Seminar held in Orlando, Florida, USA, sponsored by the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers.

He has written and arranged music for handbells, choirs, and other instruments. His Toccata won the Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers composition contest in 2003.

An active guest conductor, workshop leader, clinician and adjudicator, Dr. Hooper has presented at the Alberta Music Conference, the Alberta Sings Conference, the Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers' Handbell Discovery and conferences of the Alberta Teachers' Association. He has appeared as a guest lecturer and conductor at the Australian National Choral Association's Choralfest, once in Brisbane in 2002 and again in Tasmania in 2006. Dr. Hooper has served as interim conductor of Edmonton's Da Camera Singers and has twice conducted Men Making Music, working with four of Edmonton's finest male choirs. He was selected as the resident conductor of the 1997 Alberta Honour Choir. Dr. Hooper twice served as a clinician at Choralfest South in Calgary, sponsored by the Alberta Choral Federation, and twice at the Canadian Cantando Festival in Edmonton.

In addition, he has served the church through presentations and guest conducting at conferences and symposia sponsored by Lutheran Church-Canada, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Camp Pioneer (Angola, NY), and the Edmonton Chinese Christian Choir. He has served as adjudicator for the Singapore Youth Festival, the City of Hobart Eisteddfod, and several places throughout Alberta.

Dr. Hooper's interest in repertoire has resulted in presentations at the American Choral Directors' Association 2008 Northwest Division Conference on Canadian sacred a cappella choral music and the 2007 Royal Canadian College of Organists national conference on choral-organ repertoire.

His academic focus is on conducting and pedagogy, resulted in a set of three videos, The Art & Work of Choir, designed for the novice choir director, which are regularly broadcast on ACCESS-TV. His articles and reviews have appeared in The Music Alberta Magazine, ACF's Quires, the Canadian Lutheran, the Manitoba Music Educator, and the ACDA Choral Journal.

An active singer, Dr. Hooper performs as a professional chorister, having sung with Pro Coro Canada, Da Camera Singers, and the Phoenix Bach Choir. He is a member and served on boards of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, the Alberta Choral Federation, the American Choral Directors Association, the Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers, and the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers. He has also served as chair of the Lutheran Church-Canada's Committee on Worship and Music.