Cameron F. LaBarr

B.M., Missouri State University
M.M., D.M.A, University of North Texas

Email: clabarr@leeuniversity.edu

Assistant Professor of Choral Music

A native of Richmond, Missouri, Cameron F. LaBarr is assistant professor of choral music at Lee University, where he conducts the Lee University Choral Union and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, choral literature, and choral techniques. Formerly, he served as conductor of the University of North Texas Men’s Chorus and taught undergraduate conducting at UNT. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Missouri State University, where he studied with Dr. Guy B. Webb, as well as a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, where he studied choral conducting with Dr. Jerry McCoy and orchestral conducting with Maestro David Itkin. In the summer of 2012, LaBarr served as conducting fellow at the Yale International Choral Festival and the Sarteano (Italy) Chamber Choir Workshop.

As an advocate for community singing, LaBarr has been associate conductor of the Dallas Rotary Men’s Chorus and the Denton Bach Society. He has served at various churches in Missouri and Texas, most recently at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas, where he conducted the youth choirs and founded the Wesley Chorale. In May of 2010, LaBarr led the Wesley Chorale on tour in England and Wales, performing concerts in Cardiff, Worcester, Epworth, Oxford, and at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

LaBarr has worked as guest conductor and clinician for various schools and festivals across the United States. He holds memberships with the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and Chorus America, and has served on the board for the Dallas chapter of Choristers Guild. LaBarr has presented interest sessions on male chorus literature and programming at the northwestern (Seattle) and western (Reno) divisional conferences of ACDA. In 2012-2013, LaBarr will guest conduct and present choral sessions in Alaska, Iowa, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

Recent major choral-orchestral works conducted by LaBarr include Bach’s Aus der Tiefen rufe ich (Denton Bach Choir and Orchestra), Mozart’s Requiem (Christ UMC Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra), Randall Thompson’s Testament of Freedom (UNT Men’s Chorus and Dallas Metropolitan Winds), Ralph Vaughan Williams' Hodie, Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Beethoven's Mass in C Major (Lee University Choral Union and Symphony Orchestra).

LaBarr and his wife Susan reside in Cleveland, Tenn., where she works as choral editor and journal editor for Choristers Guild and publishes music of her own through Santa Barbara Music Publishing (CA). Currently, Susan is serving her second year as Missouri Composer Laureate. For information on Susan’s musical endeavors, visit http://www.susanlabarrmusic.com.