Photo: Helen Tansey.
JAMIE HILLMAN is a Canadian and American musician, active as a conductor, singer, pianist, music educator, and composer-arranger. He holds the endowed Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting at the University of Toronto where he is Director of Choral Studies and an Associate Professor. He conducts the U of T MacMillan Singers and leads the master's and doctoral degree programs in Choral Conducting, as well as the annual summer Choral Conducting Symposium. He is also cross listed as an adjunct faculty member in Emmanuel College's Master of Sacred Music program.
In Fall 2022, Hillman began an additional role as Associate Conductor and Director of Community Engagement of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.
Prior to relocating to Toronto in 2021, Hillman served on the faculties of Boston University Metropolitan College/Prison Education Program, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Kodály Music Institute, Longy School of Music of Bard College, and Toronto Summer Music. As a Boston University Prison Arts Scholar, Hillman co-initiated an innovative vocal music program in the Massachusetts prison system.
Dr. Hillman is an examiner for Conservatory Canada and has adjudicated, guest conducted, performed, and presented throughout the United States and Canada, and in Brazil, France, India, Indonesia, Portugal, and Taiwan. He has led All-State, festival, or honor choirs in Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, Rhode Island, Taiwan, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Most recently he conducted two national festival choruses at Carnegie Hall with National Concerts and Manhattan Concert Productions. He returns to Carnegie Hall in 2024 to conduct. Hillman has conducted world premieres by Shireen Abu Khader, Matthew Emery, Qiushi Jiang, and Sarah Quartel, among others.
Dr. Hillman has adjudicated for ACDA Pearl Prize, Alberta Music Festival Association, Allerton Vocal Chamber Festival, Bandung International Choir Competition, Canada's Top Choirs, Cantabile Choirs BIPOC Song Competition, Carowinds Festival of Music, Chronos Vocal Ensemble Choral Composition Competition, Contemporary Showcase, Fantastic Festivals, Festivals of Music, Great East Festivals, Kings Dominion Festival of Music, Kitchener-Waterloo Kiwanis Music Festival, Kiwanis Music Festival Windsor-Essex County; Lacombe and District Performing Arts Festival, Loyola Marymount University Invitational Choral Festival, Manitoba ChoralFest, Marietta Public Schools (Georgia), Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association, Massachusetts Music Educators Association, MusicFest: The Nationals, Music in the Parks, National Collegiate Choral Organization, National Endowment for the Arts, New Brunswick Federation of Music Festivals, New England Music Festival Association, Oilsands Rotary Music Festival, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Music Festivals Association Provincials, Ontario Vocal Festival, Providence College High School Choral Festival, Rhythms International, Sherwood Park Music Festival, Stratford Kiwanis Festival for the Performing Arts, Tomohon International Choir Competition, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Choral Composition Competition, Rhode Island ACDA, and WorldStrides. Recent conference presentations include Association for Moral Education, College Music Society, Massachusetts Music Educators Association, New Jersey Music Educators Association, North Carolina Music Educators Association, Utah Music Educators Association, and World Choral Expo, and Nova Associação Brasileira de Regentes de Coros.
As a tenor soloist, Hillman has recently performed major choral-orchestral works by Beethoven, R. Nathaniel Dett, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Ramirez, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, and Schütz with choruses and orchestras in the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia. As a professional choral singer, he has sung with Canadian Chamber Choir, Elmer Iseler Singers, Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Soundstreams Choir 21, Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, and Vox Futura.
Hillman's upcoming engagements include giving conducting masterclasses at Christ's College Taipei, conducting the Alberta Youth Choir, Nova Scotia Youth Choir, and Connecticut All-State Treble Choir, and returning as a member of the jury of the Bali International Choir Festival in Indonesia. He is the curator and editor of The Jamie Hillman Choral Series published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing. His co-editorial work includes numerous editions of Arabic, Asian, Latin American, and Western choral pieces published by Earthsongs and Hinshaw Music. Choral pedagogical curriculum that he has co-written with composer Dan Forrest is published for Beckenhorst Press. He also edits pieces with Dan Forrest in Beckenhorst Press' Concert Series. Hillman has written articles on choral literature and choral pedagogy that have been published in International Choral Bulletin, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal, and Mass Sings.
Hillman earned an associate diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) and degrees from Western University (London, Canada), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Boston University where he studied with Ann Howard Jones. Dr. Hillman is the 2012 laureate of the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting from the Ontario Arts Council.
Hillman sits on the board of directors of Boston's Back Bay Chorale, Four Strings Academy, Canadian Chamber Choir, and Massachusetts ACDA (R & R Chair for Music in Worship), The Choral Commons, and the National Collegiate Choral Organization. He is also an ACDA International Activities Mentor. In February 2020, he was elected to the board of the Greater Boston Choral Consortium.