Office: FAB 236 | Phone: (308) 865-8609 | Email: petzetj@unk.edu
Dr. John Martin Petzet is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. He conducts the Choraleers, Vocal Collegium, Men’s and Women’s Choruses, and teaches Secondary Choral Methods and Advanced Choral Conducting. He is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he taught middle school and high school for 5 years.
His choirs have performed at the 2018 and 2019 Music by Women Festival at the historic Mississippi University for Women, the 2016 and 2018 Louisiana American Choral Directors Association State Convention, the 2015 National Association of Composers-USA Convention, and at the 2014 Louisiana Music Educators Association Conference. Furthermore, he has conducted honor choirs across Louisiana and in Colorado, was invited to teach at the West Texas Choral Workshop, and to teach, present, and conduct at La Universidad Autónoma De Ciudad Juárez, work with the Anaíma Ensamble Vocal in Juárez, Mexico, and was invited back to present and conduct on the opening concert of the 10th Congress of the Asociación de Mexicana de Maestros di Canto (AMMCA).
The American Choral Directors Association Choral Journal published his article, “Matthew Harris’s Shakespeare Songs-The Bard’s Lyrics Meet American Popular Music.” Dr. Petzet has also written two compact disc reviews for the Choral Journal and has presented interest sessions in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. He was the College/University Repertoire and Standards Chair for the Louisiana ACDA Chapter for 6 years. Dr. Petzet performed with Red Shift, the premier professional choir of Baton Rouge, LA at the National College Music Society Conference in Vancouver, Canada. He also sang, toured, and recorded with the Kansas City Chorale under the direction of Charles Bruffy during the 2003-2004 season. While performing with the Chorale, he sang on the Chandos recording of Alexandre Grechaninov’s Passion Week, which won a Grammy for Best Engineered Classical Album.
He holds the DMA in Choral Conducting from Texas Tech University and the Masters in Choral Conducting from the University of Kansas. He resides in Kearney, Nebraska, with this lovely wife Jennifer and his 3 children: Zachary, Andrew, and Catherine.
