James Bagwell, music director of The Dessoff Choirs, maintains an active schedule throughout the United States as a conductor of choral, operatic, and orchestral works. He was appointed Dessoff’s seventh music director in 2005, and since then has led the choir in music ranging from 17th-century Venetian masterworks to 21st-century American premieres.
He is the director of Bard College’s music program, where he is spearheading the launch of a graduate program in choral conducting through the Bard Conservatory of Music. In the summer of 2009, he returned to the Bard SummerScape Festival as chorus master for Meyerbeer’s opera Les Hugenots, and served as director of choruses for the Bard Music Festival since 2004. He also prepared the Concert Chorale of New York, which he directs, for an appearance at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.