James John is in his seventeenth season as Artistic Director of Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble. He is also Professor of Conducting and Director of Choral Activities at the Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM), Queens College-CUNY, where he directs the Queens College Vocal Ensemble and Queens College Choral Society and heads the graduate program in choral conducting.

Under his leadership, the choral program at the Aaron Copland School of Music has become recognized as one of the finest collegiate choral programs in the region, with performances at state and divisional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, as well as performances in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Trinity Wall Street, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. His ensembles are featured on several recordings, including The Partsongs of Hamish MacCunn, released by the QC Vocal Ensemble, and Songs of Peace and Praise, a compilation of choral music by Queens College composers, released on the NAXOS label. The QC Vocal Ensemble’s world premiere recording of Shanan Estreicher’s cantata, A Concordance of Leaves, was released on Composers Concordance Records in February of 2024.

Dr. John’s guest conducting has included Brahms’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Tokyo Oratorio Society and Oratorio Sinfonica Japan, David Geffen Hall’s annual Messiah Sing-In, a concert of American choral music with the Virginia Chorale, and honor choirs throughout New York. He has served as guest chorus master for the Queens Symphony and participated in a choral recording with jazz trumpeter Michael Mossman, former head of ACSM’s Jazz Performance Program. Dr. John has also contracted choirs for Josh Groban, including appearances on The Tonight Show and the opening ceremonies of the U.S. Open, as well as for his Stages tour of New York City.

As a teacher and scholar, Dr. John has served as guest lecturer in conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, and has presented seminars on American choral music in Basel and Stockholm. He has given presentations at both divisional and national conferences of the ACDA and he has served as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States. His dissertation on Brahms won the Julius Herford Prize from the ACDA, and from 2011 to 2016 he served as editor of the scholarly journal American Choral Review, which is now published by the National Collegiate Choral Organization. He has also served as a member of ACDA’s National Research and Publications Committee. In April 2025, Dr. John received the Queens College President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. 

Dr. John received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music. His prior appointments include Director of Choral Activities at both Tufts University (Boston, MA) and Nassau Community College (Garden City, NY), as well as Conducting Fellow at Dartmouth College. He received his Master of Arts in conducting from the ACSM.