“Your conductor radiates joy...Bravo to Maestro Bolkovac!” Audience Responses, 2003-2007

Maestro Bolkovac, Primrose Fuller Professor of Choral Music, Choral Department Chair, and Director of the Vocal Division at The Hartt School, is a dynamic conductor, innovative concert programmer, gifted music educator, and internationally recognized choral clinician who galvanizes vocal musicians everywhere he goes.

Before coming to Hartt and Connecticut in 1999, Maestro Bolkovac served as senior lecturer in music and director of choral activities at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where he became widely known for his critically acclaimed performances of Baroque oratorios, his artistic leadership of the Brisbane Early Music Festival, and his international workshops. Prior to his years in Australia he held the post of artistic director of the prestigious California Bach Society--recording the Guidonian Records’ CD, Musica barocca, with Judith Nelson--while also directing the internationally recognized Kodály Music Education Program at Holy Names College in Oakland and traveling extensively as guest conductor and teacher.

He studied conducting in Hungary--at the Kodály Zenepedagógiai Intézet and the Liszt Ferenct Zeneakadémia--and completed his master of music at SUNY-Binghamton and his doctorate at Stanford University. His conducting teachers have included Péter Erdei, David Buttolph, and Thomas Dunn.

Maestro Bolkovac’s arrival at The Hartt School revitalized the Departments there, generating a wide array of choral activities and performances, as well as Hartt tours of Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. In addition to his work in Hartford and New Haven, Maestro Bolkovac maintains an active schedule travelling to California, England, Austria, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the Philippines as professor, director, and impresario. His published work includes texts on choral conducting, language pronunciation for singing, and the harmonic language of Schubert, as well as two collections: 150 Rounds for Singing and Teaching and Sing We Now Merrily, an anthology of Elizabethan rounds.

Since 2003 he has catalyzed a renaissance of the New Haven Chorale, leading electrifying performances and titanic collaborations that have thrilled New Haven and Hartford audiences. The Chorale looks forward enthusiastically to new musical adventures with Maestro Bolkovac in seasons ahead. Please join the Chorale in cheering, “Bravo to Maestro Bolkovac!”