Conductor, educator, and tenor, Dr. John K. Russell has served as Music Director of the San Diego Master Chorale since 2014. As Music Director, John programs and conducts the Chorale’s concert season and prepares the Chorale for performances with the San Diego Symphony and the Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra.

As an educator, he is currently Professor of Music and Co-Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Palomar College, where he conducts the Chamber Singers and the Palomar Chorale, and oversees the vocal music program. Previously, he was the principal choral conductor of the LaGuardia School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. In that role, he conducted over twenty performances with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, served as a clinician for the New York Philharmonic’s Education Department, and appeared as a guest conductor with the New York City National Chorale. He has also served on the summer conducting faculty at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.

An active tenor soloist and professional chorister, he has performed with some of the finest choirs in the country, including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Kantorei (Denver), Bach Collegium San Diego, Res Facta (New York), Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity (New York), and at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. He is a current member of BWV: Cleveland’s Professional Bach Choir, the resident vocal ensemble at the annual Bach Festival at Baldwin Wallace University.

A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, John holds degrees from Western Michigan University, Columbia University, and received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Music from the University of Southern California. He resides in San Diego with his wife, Jill, and son, Parker