03/27/2023
A little about our accomplished director… Chuck Neufeld
Chuck Neufeld is a choral conductor, a vocal performer, and a studio voice instructor. Chuck holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in music and sociology from Tabor College, Hillsboro, KS. He completed a Master of Music degree in conducting, church music, and trombone performance at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX, in 1988. In 1999, he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral music from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
For over 40 years Chuck has lead vocal groups ranging from children’s choirs to graduate level ensembles, including choral ensembles at Arizona State University, Baylor University, Washington State University, and Newberry College. Choirs under his direction have performed across the Southeastern United States. He has conducted several national premiers of American music, and he has been an adjudicator and choral clinician with secondary school and collegiate choirs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Texas. He has served as a music minister in a variety of churches and has presented his research in voice science and technology at several national conventions. Since 2009 he has conducted the Laurens County Chorale. In 2010 Chuck assumed his post at Lander University where he is Professor of Choral Music and Voice; conducts University Singers, Old Main Singers, and Camerata; and teaches studio voice and choral music education courses. He has been leading the music ministry of First Presbyterian Church, Clinton, SC, since fall 2019.
Trained in both vocal and instrumental music, his past work as a free-lance trombonist has included performances with pit orchestras for musical theatre productions, oratorios, and operas in Kansas, Texas, and Arizona. He has served as musical director for productions at the Greenwood Community Theatre and Lander University. He has served as a music minister in Mennonite, Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches during his career.
Chuck has numerous tenor oratorio roles to his credit as a solo vocal performer. He has performed and recorded professionally with several choirs, including the Phoenix Bach Choir (Phoenix Chorale) and the Taylor Festival Choir, with whom he sang as a soloist at Piccolo Spoleto. He has also performed with the Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. He currently sings with The Cecilia Ensemble, an early music ensemble based in Augusta, GA, with whom he premiered Timothy Michael Powell and Tim Sharp’s Angel Band in 2019; served as artists-in-residence at Dickinson College and Bloomsburg University in 2017-2018; premiered a new performance edition of the rarely performed Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Dobri Hristov in 2016; and toured in Moscow, Russia, in 2015, including performances at the International Symposium on Music and Religion at the White Hall of Myaskovskya, and the Moscow State Conservatory's XIth International Choir Festival.
Chuck studied voice with Jonah Kliewer, Sue King, and Jerry Doan. For over 25 years he has taught studio voice lessons to high school, college, and graduate level voice students. His voice students have consistently received high ratings in South Carolina and Mid-Atlantic Regional NATS Student Auditions and other competitive arenas.
When he is not making music, Chuck likes to make woodworking projects and follow major league baseball. He and his wife, Judi, have been married for 38 years.
