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Biography

John Irving is an active conductor, educator, artistic director, and singer whose work spans urban and rural spaces in academic, professional, and sacred settings. Currently based in Virginia’s Hampton Roads, he serves as Director of Choral Studies at Christopher Newport University (CNU) where he conducts the Chamber Choir and University Chorale, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, choral literature, music education, vocal pedagogy, and supervises student teachers.

In addition to his responsibilities at CNU, Irving is Co-Artistic Director of the Ad Astra Music Festival. Since 2014, the festival cultivates community and spaces in western Kansas by celebrating rural voices and stories, commissioning new works, inventive programming with acclaimed artists, and providing music education to adolescents, emerging artists, and community members. Supported and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the festival reflects the vast Kansas landscape through diverse artistic offerings of vocal and instrumental genres in early and new music.

Irving is a frequent clinician and presenter across the United States and his teaching has been recognized by the Kansas and Virginia Music Educators Associations. The New York Times praised his choirs as “not just exuberant but polished and precise.” He has prepared choruses for performance with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra. His former students lead vibrant choral programs in Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region, pursue graduate studies at prestigious universities and conservatories including the Peabody Institute, and have won GRAMMY Awards for best album, artist, and performance.

A versatile professional chorister, Irving has appeared in performance with Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Barenboim, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Vladimir Jurowski, Nathalie Stutzmann, Alan Gilbert, Jane Glover, Andrew Manze, Gary Thor Wedow, Jeannette Sorrell, and JoAnn Falletta as a countertenor and bass. He maintains an active performance schedule in the U.S. and performed recently with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Three Notch’d Road Baroque Ensemble. He has performed at the Boston Early Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and at state, regional, and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, National Collegiate Choral Organization, and Texas Music Educators Association. Championing American choral music, he appears on multiple albums with leading classical music label, Naxos Records.

He is Director of Choral Ministry at First Baptist Church Newport News.

Previously, he was Director of Choral Music at Fordham High School for the Arts in the Bronx and founding choral workshop director to Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute Count Me In program. He served as Interim Music Director of the Denton Bach Society and Men’s Chorus Director of Westminster Choir College's Vocal Institute. At the University of North Texas (UNT), he taught undergraduate conducting and led its Collegium Singers, Men’s Chorus, and A Cappella Choir in performance.

Irving earned a doctorate in choral conducting from UNT, specializing in early music. He holds a master’s degree in choral conducting with distinction from Westminster Choir College and a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Texas at Austin. His musical training began as a treble with the Texas Boys Choir.