Dr. Jo Ann Miller
North Dakota State University: Director of Choral Activities; University Distinguished Professor
Since 1989, Jo Ann Miller has been director of choral activities at North Dakota State University. She conducts the Concert Choir and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting and choral literature.
Her involvement in the American Choral Director’s Association includes North Dakota state president, newsletter editor, repertoire and standards chair for the university level, audition chair for the 2006 North Central convention, program chair for the 2008 North Central convention, and search committee member for the national executive director. She served as North Central division president from 2006 through 2008 and is currently the national treasurer and member of the Executive Board from 2009-2017.
As director of choral activities at NDSU, her choirs tour regularly overseas and throughout the United States. The Concert Choir has been invited to perform at national, regional, and state music conventions, including the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. North Central American Choral Directors Association conventions and the 2001 national ACDA convention in San Antonio, Texas.
Dr. Miller is the artistic director of the NDSU Baroque Festival and the chorus master of the Fargo Moorhead Symphony Orchestra. She was named a University Distinguished Professor in 2009, the highest honor awarded to faculty at NDSU, and in 2013 was awarded the Faculty Lectureship. She earned her degrees from NDSU, the University of North Dakota, and the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music.
She is an active clinician and guest conductor throughout the United States.
The NDSU Concert Choir tours regionally during spring break every year and internationally every three years. In 2012 they were awarded the first prize Golden Cross at the Zadar, Croatia International Choir Competition. They also record more than 30 compact discs annually. Since 2000 the Concert Choir has participated in the NDSU Baroque Festival with annual performances of Handel’s Messiah.
The Weston H. Noble Award for Lifetime Achievement in Choral Arts is given every two years to an outstanding choral conductor within the Midwest ACDA, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.