Christopher Mason is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota Duluth where he directs the flagship University Singers and teaches secondary choral methods, conducting, and ear training. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of Vox GR, Grand Rapids’ premier professional choir. Previous academic appointments include Interim DCA at Southern Methodist University, DCA at Aquinas College, and Adjunct Professor at Grand Valley State University. Mason’s research focuses on the Latin American Baroque, specifically the analysis and historically informed performance of the music of Manuel de Sumaya, one of the first American-born boy choristers to become chapel master at theCathedral of Mexico City in the 18th century.
Mason earned a D.M.A. in Choral Music at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the mentorship of Andrew Megill; a Master of Music in Conducting degree at the University of Georgia under the mentorship of Daniel Bara and J.D. Burnett; and a Bachelor of Music Education degree summa cum laude with a minor in mechanical engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
In addition to various church and community choral ensembles, Mason has taught 6th–12th grade choral music and AP Music Theory just north of Dallas, in both Lovejoy and Plano Independent School Districts. High school choirs under his direction have sung at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention and with Dallas’ Orpheus Chamber Singers. He is a former Company Manager of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, a recipient of Southern Methodist University’s 2014 Young Music Educator of the Year award, and a past director of the Dallas Men’s Rotary Chorus.