The West Texas Symphony has named Dr. Juan Hernández as its new permanent director of the Chamber Chorale. His appointment comes following a season in which he held the position on an interim basis.
“Dr. Hernández holds the qualifications and experience we needed for the high-performance level expected of our chorale program,” Ethan Wills, the symphony’s executive director, said in an Aug. 8 press release.
According to the non-profit performing arts organization, Hernández works at Odessa College (OC) where he directs choral activities and vocal studies and is the conductor of the school’s a cappella choir and vocal ensemble. He’s also an instructor in music appreciation, voice, and diction courses in addition to the music director at Westminster Presbyterian Church of Odessa, the release said. Hernández called New Mexico home before moving east toward the Permian Basin. Hernández also worked in music education in the Land of Enchantment, most notably as a choral activities director and an instructor of undergraduate and graduate course pertaining to choral music at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque. Away from UNM, he served as a music director for St. Paul’s United Methodist Church of Albuquerque and the Madrigal Singers of Albuquerque.
“Dr. Hernández's passion for Latin American music has motivated him to arrange and self-publish a broad range of popular and folk pieces for choral ensembles, expanding the exposure of distinct styles of repertoire to diverse audiences, and contributing to the cultural enrichment of those who have yet to encounter this genre in the choral setting,” the West Texas Symphony said in the release.
Per the release, Hernández earned his doctoral and master’s degrees from Indiana University (IU) Jacobs School of Music in addition to a bachelor’s degree from Los Andes University in Colombia. He was mentored by such prominent conductors as Robert Porco, William Jon Gray, Dominick DiOrio, Walter Huff, Richard Tang Yuk, Betsy Burleigh, Carmen-Helena Téllez, Manuel Cubides Greiffeinstein, and Werner Pfaff.