Aaron M. Peisner

Asst Professor/Director of Choral Activities

Aaron Peisner is the Director of Choral Activities and assistant professor at the UNCW Department of Music, where he conducts the Chamber Singers and University Chorale and teaches courses in choral music education, conducting, and voice. He is the artistic director of the Cape Fear Chorale, an 80-voice auditioned community choir. As chorus master for Opera Wilmington, Dr. Peisner has prepared the chorus for productions of Don Giovanni, Tosca, La Traviata, and the Magic Flute. He has prepared choirs for performances with the Baltimore and National Symphony Orchestras under the baton of conductors including Marin Alsop, Gianandrea Noseda, Donald Runnicles, and Jeannette Sorrell. A bass-baritone, Dr. Peisner is a founding member and co-conductor of the professional chamber choir, Wilmington Voices, and has sung professionally with the Taylor Festival Choir, NC Choral Artists, hexaCollective, Yale School Cantorum, and as a staff singer in the Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, DC. He has presented at state, regional, and national ACDA conferences, and maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician. He received his DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Maryland, where he studied conducting with Edward Maclary and James Ross and was awarded the Daniel L. Pomeroy Prize for outstanding work in seventeenth- and eighteenth- century music. He earned his MM in Choral Conducting from Yale University, where he studied conducting with Marguerite Brooks, Jeffrey Douma, David Hill, and Masaaki Suzuki, and his BA in music from Wesleyan University.

Education

D.M.A. in Choral Conducting, University of Maryland
M.M. in Choral Conducting, Yale University
B.A. in Music, Wesleyan University

Specialization in Teaching

Choir, choral conducting, choral methods, aural skills, Renaissance music, Baroque music, Georgian polyphony

Research Interests

Georgian polyphony, Renaissance music, Baroque music, the music of Kurt Weill, the music of Judith Weir, the music of Modesta Bor, critical pedagogy in the choral rehearsal, accessible choral music for collegiate singers

Professional Service

NC ACDA Collegiate Festival Chorus co-chair, 2022-2024
NC ACDA Conference Committee, 2022-2024
Wilmington Symphony Orchestra Music Director search committee, 2024-2025

Honors & Awards

Daniel L. Pomeroy Prize for outstanding work in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music (2019)