Cameron F. LaBarr is director of choral studies at Missouri State University where he leads a comprehensive choral program including over 200 singers in five choirs. He has previously held university choral positions at Lee University (Cleveland, Tennessee) and the University of North Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Missouri State University, where he studied with Dr. Guy B. Webb, and he earned a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, where he studied choral and orchestral conducting with Dr. Jerry McCoy, Dr. Richard Sparks, and Maestro David Itkin.

Dr. LaBarr has been awarded conducting fellowships at the Yale International Choral Festival, the Sarteano (Italy) Chamber Choir Workshop, and was named a Salzburg Fellow in April 2014, where he participated in the Salzburg Seminar: Conflict Transformation through Peace-Building and the Arts. Choirs under his direction have been selected for performance at the Tennessee Music Education Association Conference, Tennessee ACDA Conference, Missouri Music Educators Association Conference, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses National Seminar.

Dr. LaBarr has worked as guest conductor and clinician for various institutions and international festivals across the United States, Europe, South Africa and China, including two fellowships with the International Conductors Exchange Program. Engagements this year include residencies in South Africa and Finland, serving on the jury panel for the 13th China International Chorus Festival in Beijing, conducting a festival concert at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, and a performance at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Research and professional interests

Dr. LaBarr has published articles and reviews in the Choral Journal and The Chorister and edits a choral series with Santa Barbara Music Publishing. His choral arrangements and editions are published by Colla Voce Music and Choristers Guild.

Recent major choral-orchestral works conducted by LaBarr include Bach’s Aus der Tiefen rufe ich (Denton Bach Choir and Orchestra), Mozart’s Requiem (Christ UMC Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra), Randall Thompson’s Testament of Freedom (UNT Men’s Chorus and Dallas Metropolitan Winds), Ralph Vaughan Williams' Hodie, Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, Beethoven's Mass in C Major, and Haydn's Nelsonmesse (Lee University Choral Union and Symphony Orchestra).

Awards and honors

• International Conductors Exchange Program Fellowship, Sweden, 2015
• International Conductors Exchange Program Fellowship, China, 2014
• Salzburg Global Fellow, 2013
• Conducing fellowship, Yale International Choral Festival, 2012
• Conducting fellowship, Sarteano (Italy) Chamber Choir Workshop, 2012