Teaching Area(s)
Director - DePaul Community Chorus
Education
MM Northwestern University
BM University of North Carolina
Courses Taught
DePaul Community Chorus
About
Stephen Blackwelder is currently Director of
the DePaul Community Chorus (since 2005) and Director of the Chicago Bar
Association Chorus (since 2017). This past spring, he successfully completed an
eighteen-season tenure as Music Director of the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra.
Previous positions include Music Director of the Hinsdale Chamber Orchestra
(1983-94) and numerous civic and educational orchestral, opera, and choral
ensembles in the greater Chicago area. As a professional singer, he performed
frequently under conductors James Levine, Robert Shaw, Sir Georg Solti, Claudio
Abbado and Margaret Hillis while a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and
the Aspen Chamber Choir. He served on the conducting staff of the Harford Opera
Theater of Baltimore, Hinsdale Opera, Opera Illinois, Opera da Corneto and
Chicago Opera Theater. Academic teaching positions include Northern Illinois
University, East Carolina University, Lake Forest College and (currently)
DePaul University’s CMD.
Blackwelder holds a BM from the University of
North Carolina (1978) and a MM from Northwestern University (1979).
Professional study included four seasons with the Aspen Music Festival and
conducting master classes with Sir Georg Solti, Max Rudolf and Erich Leinsdorf.