KENTUCKYBachCHOIR
• SOLI DEO GLORIA •
Established 2007
ABOUT US
Dr. Jill Campbell
Assistant Conductor
Jill Campbell holds a Ph.D. in music education from the University of Kentucky where she studied choral music teacher attitudes in regards to sex-specific adolescent vocal change. She completed BMME in vocal music education, a minor in violin performance, an MM in choral conducting, and a Rank 1 in Music Education. Additionally, she earned the Graduate Certificate in Orff Schulwerk, Music for Children. Dr. Campbell has experience teaching at the elementary, middle, and collegiate levels, and has worked in many areas of church music. Dr. Campbell was a founding director of the Lexington Singers Children's Choir and conducted with them for eight seasons. Dr. Campbell has been teaching at Asbury University for six years and is currently Associate Professor of Music Education and Voice where she directs the 75-voice Asbury Women’s Choir. In February 2018, Dr. Campbell was pleased to direct the Asbury University Women’s Choir in an invited performance at the KMEA state music conference. This was the first appearance by the choir at the conference. She teaches the following courses at Asbury: elementary general music methods, elementary vocal music methods, secondary choral music education methods, opera workshop, conducting, and voice lessons. Dr. Campbell serves as the head of the vocal area within the music department and supervises student teachers in choral and general music education. Additionally, she chairs the Artist Series Committee for Asbury.She is the President-Elect for the Kentucky chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. Her term as president begins on July 1, 2019.
Dr. Zachary Klobnak
Principal keyboardist
& Accompanist
Zach Klobnak is Assistant Professor of Music at Centre College, where he has taught since 2013. He teaches applied lessons in organ, piano, and harpsichord as well as courses in American music and music theory. His duties include accompanying responsibilities for Cenre’s voice and choral programs.
A native of Iowa, Klobnak holds degrees from Luther College (B.A.), the University of Florida (M.M.), the University of Kentucky (M.A.), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (D.M.A.), where he held the Brownson Fellowship for organ studies. His principal organ teachers include Dana Robinson, Laura Ellis, and Gregory Peterson; he has also studied harpsichord with Kathryn Reed and choral conducting with Donald
Nally, Fred Stoltzfus, and Timothy Peter.
An active recitalist, Zach has performed throughout the region as soloist and collaborative artist. He especially enjoys designing programs that help expand the core repertoire to include underrepresented composers, including Parisian composer Rolande Falcinelli, who was the subject of his doctoral project. He studied French organ literature and design in Paris and in the Alps region of France.
Since 2015, Zach has served as principal keyboardist and accompanist for the Kentucky Bach Choir. He will play the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with the Johnson City (TN) Symphony Orchestra in September 2023.
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Klobnak is also a seasoned arts administrator. Much of his work in this realm is through the American Guild of Organists, where he currently sits on the Committee for Scholarships. Recently, he helped design and oversee an educational outreach program for young musicians, including a state-of-the-art virtual camp during the Covid-
19 pandemic.
He has also inaugurated two concert series, one each in Florida and Kentucky, both of which continue to connect audiences to unique musical offerings and are now thriving in their second decade of existence.
Richard Waters
Richard Waters was appointed as Artistic Director of the Kentucky Bach Choir in April 2023. He is Director of Choral Activities, Voice Area Coordinator, and Professor of Music at Eastern Kentucky University, where he directs two choirs, teaches courses in conducting and choral literature, and oversees the graduate choral conducting program. Choirs under his direction have toured nationally and internationally, and have been invited to perform at several state and regional music conferences. Dr. Waters was the 2022 recipient of the Robert K. Baar Choral Excellence Award, presented annually by the Kentucky chapter of the American Choral Directors Association in recognition of service to the choral art and dedication to the promotion of music education in the state. He was voted College/University Teacher of the Year for District 11 of the Kentucky Music Educators Association in 2012 and 2016, and received Distinguished Educational Leadership Awards from the EKU Student Government Association in 2016 and 2017. In addition to his university responsibilities, he conducts the annual Stephen Foster Summer Music Camp High School Choir and is the Chancel Choir Director at First Christian Church in Richmond. He has served as Conductor of the Madison Singers, Artistic Director of The Mississippi Chorus, Assistant Conductor of the Choral Society of Greensboro, conductor of the UNCG Men’s Glee Club, and taught high school and middle school choir in the Virginia public schools. While in Hartford, he sang in CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists), the region’s first professional choir. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he began singing as a treble in the All Saints Choir of Men and Boys. Dr. Waters maintains an active schedule as a composer, clinician, and adjudicator. His compositions are published by Carl Fischer Music, Colla Voce Music, Hinshaw Music, MusicSpoke, and St. James Music Press, and have been featured at numerous conferences, festivals, and honor choirs. He received the Bachelor of Music degree in music education from James Madison University, the Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the Hartt School of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more information, visit www.richardwaters.net.