Bel Canto Chorus Appoints New Artistic Director

The Bel Canto Chorus is proud to announce the next chapter in its musical journey with the appointment of Jonathan Laabs as its next Artistic Director. Laabs succeeds long time Artistic Director Richard Hynson as the artistic visionary of the chorus. Laabs, a Wisconsin native, has been an active conductor, clinician, performer, and music educator throughout the Midwest and beyond. He most recently held the position of Professor of Music and Music Division Chairman at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota, where his responsibilities included conducting the College Chorale and Women’s Choir. He also taught courses in conducting, choral literature, and aural theory. Since 2011, he has served as Artistic Director and conductor of Canticum Novum, a Midwest-based chorus with performances centered around an annual intensive week-long retreat. In August of 2024, he will be a guest conductor at the opening Festival Concert at the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts held at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He has twice conducted the National High School Honors Choir at past conferences (2014, 2017). In 2018, he was one of twelve international conductors selected as a fellow at the Chorus America Conducting Academy in Fullerton, California, where he studied and conducted choral-orchestral works by Bernstein, Mendelssohn, and Mozart.  He holds a bachelor’s degree from Martin Luther College and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Laabs recently shared, “I am both honored and humbled to be joining the remarkable Bel Canto family as Artistic Director. It is clear to me that the organization’s outstanding singers, staff, and board share my same passion for the communal and connective power of choral music, as well as its ability to create lasting and impactful relationships.” He went on, “I have the utmost respect for and have experienced firsthand the extraordinary choral community and the distinguished artistic excellence that has defined Bel Canto under the musical leadership of Rick and Michelle Hynson. With one foot planted firmly in this organization’s strong 93-year history, I look forward to new opportunities to broaden and enhance Bel Canto’s voice within the Milwaukee arts community and beyond.”

“The Bel Canto Chorus has a bright future ahead of it,” Managing Director Kai Simone shared. “Our team is very pleased to have such a strong artistic partner joining the organization to lead the choir into its next chapter.” Retiring Artistic Director Rick Hynson contributed “I am thrilled to have Laabs take the helm of Bel Canto as its new artistic director. I am confident that he will carry forward the traditions of excellence while bringing his own vision to the choir, supporting its continued growth and development.”

In addition to conducting, Laabs is an active baritone soloist. Laabs has frequently performed across Wisconsin and Minnesota. Performance highlights include Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, an international tour to Argentina and Uruguay of Mozart’s Requiem and Faure’s Requiem with Bel Canto International and the Texas Choral Consort, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with the Falls Baptist College Orchestra and Chorus, and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Minnesota Valley Chorale.

Laabs and his wife Erin are thrilled to be coming home to Wisconsin with their three children.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.