Jon Washburn is the Founder and Conductor Emeritus of the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Canada’s outstanding professional vocal ensemble which he led as Artistic and Executive Director for 48 years. He has earned international acclaim for mastery of choral technique and interpretation, travelling widely as guest conductor, lecturer, clinician and master teacher.
During those 48 years with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, he led 400 subscription concerts, 150 radio and TV appearances, 800 concerts and events on 92 separate tours, 59 CD recordings, 350 commissioned/premiered new works, 300 large Baroque works, 40 Conductors’ Symposiums, 60 Composers’ Workshops, thousands of individual pieces in over 40 languages and countless workshops and residencies for choral conductors, composers, students and singers.
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Washburn is a Member of the Order of Canada (the nation’s highest civilian honour, awarded to him in 2001) and has received Queen Elizabeth’s Silver, Gold, and Diamond Jubilee Medals for his lifetime contribution to Canadian choral art. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors in 1996 and the Louis Botto Award from Chorus America in June 2000, in recognition of “innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in the development of a professional choral ensemble of exceptional quality.”
Jon Washburn is an active composer, arranger, lyricist and editor, published by G. Schirmer, Walton, Cypress, Oxford University Press, earthsongs and others. His music is widely published, performed and recorded around the world. He is a noted champion of new choral repertoire, having commissioned and premiered hundreds of new compositions by Canadian, American and European composers. He has conducted thousands of performances of works by Canadian composers, for which he received the Friends of Canadian Music Award from the Canadian League of Composers and Canadian Music Centre.
