John C. Hughes

John C. Hughes is assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Ripon College in Wisconsin. In addition to conducting the college’s choirs, Hughes teaches conducting, choral methods, and private voice lessons. Outside of Ripon College, he is in demand as a clinician and honor choir conductor and serves as assistant conductor of the Choral Institute at the Green Lake Festival of Music (WI). He also founded and hosts Choir Chat, a weekly podcast of interviews with conductors and composers.

Accompanying his busy performance schedule, Hughes is passionate about choral literature and scholarship, specializing in Lutheran music before 1600 and trends in contemporary choral composition. From January 2012 until August 2015, he wrote the Repertoire Forum column for the bi-monthly publication Choral Director. He has authored peer-reviewed articles in Choral Journal and The Choral Scholar, as well as numerous reviews of choral music, books, and recordings. He serves as editor of Melisma, the newsletter of the north-central division of the American Choral Directors Association, and as associate editor of score reviews for The Choral Scholar. Additionally, he is a national board member of and the Wisconsin state representative for the National Collegiate Choral Organization. Hughes earned his undergraduate degree in music education from Augustana College (IL), MM from Northern Illinois University, and DMA from The University of Iowa.