2024 MMEA All-Collegiate Choir: Clinician
86th MMEA In-Service Workshop/Conference
“A Drop In The Bucket: The Ripple Effect Of Missouri Music Education”
January 22-27, 2024
Tan-Tar-A Conference Center
Mmea all-collegiate Choir
performance
Friday, January 26, 2024
8:30pm – Paradise A Ballroom
clinician
J.D. Burnett enjoys a varied career as a conductor, singer, and teacher. In the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas, he serves as Director of Choral Activities, conducts the UT Concert Chorale, and teaches courses in graduate choral conducting and literature. Additionally, he is the founding Artistic Director of Kinnara, the premier professional chamber choir in Atlanta, Georgia. In March 2021, he was named Artistic Director of Orpheus Chamber Singers in Dallas, and assumed the role on January 1, 2022.
Formerly, he was Associate Professor of Music and Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music. He has served as Assistant Director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, conductor of the New Jersey Youth Chorus Young Men’s Ensemble, Associate Conductor of the Masterwork Chorus of New Jersey, and Acting Director of Choral Activities at Montclair State University. Earlier posts include Interim Director of Choral Activities at San Jose State University, Artistic Director of the New Jersey Chamber Singers, Music Director of the Houston Masterworks Chorus, and Founder of Men’s Consort Houston. He also served as Choral Editor at McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Burnett did undergraduate study at Stanford University and Oklahoma State University. He holds advanced degrees in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College and the University of North Texas.
As a professional choral singer, Burnett has performed and recorded with the Stillwater Chamber Singers, Cantare Houston, Fuma Sacra, Robert Shaw Festival Singers, Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street, Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Conspirare.
accompanist
Pianist Rachel AuBuchon has the heart of a collaborator. From assisting choirs in her youth, playing numerous recitals of chamber music, being part of creative opera production, elevating new composers’ voices in performance, or simply spending hours in rehearsal, her passion for creating with others abides.
Recent engagements include a series of virtual recitals with Lauren Auge, soprano and serving as music director for Landlocked Opera’s production of The Magic Flute. Most recently, Rachel spent three years working with students at Liberty North High School during the Coronavirus pandemic. Her love of vocal literature led her to participate in the CoOPERAtive program in Princeton, New Jersey (2013) and serve as a staff accompanist for the national NATS conference in 2015, 2016, and 2018. She also participated in the inaugural year for collaborative pianists at the NATS intern program (2017) under the mentorship of Warren Jones. Other recent performances include the 2014 North American Saxophone Conference with Trio Chymera, and the 2012 World Saxophone Congress with Leo Saguiguit. An avid supporter of new music, Dr. AuBuchon participated in the International Composers Festival in Columbia Missouri (2012, 2013), served as a rehearsal pianist for the first UMKC Sounding Board event (2021), and brought to life performances of students’ opera works at UNCG’s Opera at the Carolina (2015–-2017).
Rachel has served on the faculty of Stephens College, Truman State University, and UMKC, and now makes a return to the University of Missouri at Columbia. She holds degrees from Truman State University, University of Missouri at Columbia, and University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her journey in learning and musical artistry includes study with David McKamie, Janice Wenger, Natalia Bolshakova, Paul Crabb, James Douglass, and countless talented musicians with whom she has had the privilege to collaborate.