Jon Arnold

Dr. Jon Arnold is Director of Choral Studies and Assistant Professor at Simpson College, where he conducts the College Choir and Chamber Singers and teaches classes in choral conducting and choral methods. Prior to coming to Simpson, he taught at Washburn University (Topeka, KS), the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Arnold also has extensive experience conducting community and church choirs.

Jon hails from Atlanta, Georgia, where he had an active and diverse career in music. From 2012 to 2017, he conducted the Lanier Chamber Singers, a community-choir with a strong performance history based in Gainesville, GA. In his first season with LCS, the choir was invited to perform at the Emory Community Choral Festival and was featured at the summer convention of the Georgia American Choral Directors Association at Spivey Hall. Beginning in 2011, he became the conductor of the Meridian Women’s Chorus in Athens, GA, which strives to provide a high-quality choral music outlet for women in the community.

Jon holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral music from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Dr. Andrew Megill. His dissertation focuses on the Florilegium Portense, an anthology of motets edited by Erhard Bodenschatz and published in Leipzig in 1618, and includes fourteen premier editions. He is currently working on an edition of Bodenschatz’s twelve settings of the Magnificat, originally published in 1599. Other notable projects include an edition of three movements from the Missa Pange Lingua by Francisco López Capillas, currently published on CPDL. Other interests include the choral music of Heinrich von Herzogenberg and music engraving.

Jon holds the Bachelor of Arts degree in music and educational studies as well as the Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Emory University. At Emory, he studied conducting with Dr. Eric Nelson and voice with Teresa Hopkin while singing in the Concert Choir, Mastersingers, and University Chorus. During his tenure as a graduate student, he served as the graduate assistant for the Emory University Chorus.

Dr. Arnold has been a member of American Choral Directors Association since 2006 and served as the Georgia Repertoire and Resources Chair for Community Choirs from 2014 to 2017.

Bachelor of Arts in Music and Educational Studies, Emory University, 2009
Master of Music in Choral Conducting, Emory University, 2011
Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Music, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2021