Conductors and Pianist

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Dr. Richard Schnipke

  • Position: Conductor
  • Phone: (419) 372-8288
  • Email: rschnip@bgsu.edu
  • Address: Room 1038A Moore Musical Arts Center

Associate Professor Dr. Richard L. Schnipke, Director

Dr. Richard Schnipke serves as Associate Professor of Music Performance/Choral Activities at Bowling Green State University.  His duties at BGSU include conducting the Collegiate Chorale and Men’s Chorus, as well as teaching graduate courses in choral repertoire and graduate and undergraduate conducting.  Previously, Dr. Schnipke held faculty positions at Xavier University and The Ohio State University and spent 15 years as a public-school choral director.  He holds degrees from Bowling Green State University and The Ohio State University and has done additional graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  

Choirs under Schnipke’s direction have performed at national and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and have made numerous appearances at the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference and the Ohio Choral Directors Association Summer Conference.  Schnipke’s choirs have also sung for the American Musicological Society and for several national seminars of the IMC: The Tenor-Bass Choral Consoritum.  Dr. Schnipke also regularly prepares professional choruses for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and frequently presents at state, regional, and national conference on the incorporation of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the choral rehearsal.

Schnipke performs regularly as a professional chorister and has served as tenor section leader for Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble (Grammy Award winner, Craig Hella Johnson, music director).  He is a Past-President of the Ohio Choral Directors Association, has served on the National Board of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and is currently on the board of IMC: The Tenor-Bass Choral Consortium.

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CJ Capen

CJ CAPEN is musical coordinator and accompanist in the department of Theatre & Film. He holds an MM in Collaborative Piano from University of North Carolina, Greensboro, a BFA in Piano Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Choral Conducting from Messiah University. 

He has been staff accompanist & vocal coach for Chicago Summer Opera, Elon University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He has served as keyboard artist for Georgetown Chorale, Vienna Chorale Society, and the semi-professional choir, "Voce Chamber Singers" from 2013-2023. He has toured China with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra flutist Lauren Sileo in 2014, given lecture recitals for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and he has given benefit concerts to include: S.O.M.E's 40th Anniversary Celebration, St Thomas More Cathedral Recital Series, Reston Drop-In Center, Cornerstone, and the Maryknoll Society.

He is also a conductor, having served as conductor for Opera Steamboat's production of "Frida", guest conductor for Reston Chorale's Messiah Sing-Along, conductor for the Arlington Diocese Choral Festival, choral director and musical director at Paul VI High School for many years, and he served as Director of Music at St John Neumann Church in Reston VA from 2008-2023, one of the largest churches in the Diocese of Arlington.

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Alex Kuhn

Alexander Kuhn graduated from Bowling Green State University in the Fall of 2020 and has returned to the university for a Masters in Choral Conducting. During his time at BGSU, Alex participated in Acapella Choir, Collegiate Chorale, and the Men’s chorus, along with the student run male acapella group Ten40. He was also an active member of BGSU’s chapter of Phi Mu Alpha. Alex also is a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society, where his enjoyment for the barbershop style started with the quarters formed within the men’s chorus, and has gone on to participate with groups in the Northeast and Northwest Ohio area. He is excited to return to his alma mater to work and perform with the group that he enjoyed so much during his undergrad.


Updated: 01/31/2024 12:30PM