Mr. Bruce Barber, Director of Cathedral Music
Bruce J. Barber II was appointed Director of Cathedral Music of St James Cathedral, Chicago, in January 2004. Prior to joining the staff of St. James, he served as Canon Precentor & Director of Cathedral Music at the Cathedral Church of St. John, the Diocese of the Rio Grande, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for 10 years.
As an orchestral musician, Mr. Barber has performed with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Symphony Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and since moving to the Midwest, has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of such notable maestros as Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, James Conlon, David Zinman, Helmuth Rilling, Semyon Byshkov, Charles Dutoit, and Michael Tilson Thomas. An avid conductor, he has conducted a wide range of sacred music, orchestral literature and concerto repertoire ranging from Bach to Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, Brahms to Duruflé, Bernstein and Stravinsky.
In 2010, the Cathedral Choir of St James Cathedral released its first recording in over 25 years under Barber’s direction – Arise, Shine! (MSR Classics) – which has garnered high praise in national reviews. He has made two CD recordings with the Musicians of St. Johns Cathedral, To the Creator of Light: Choral Music from the Cathedral Church of St. John and All This Time: Music for Advent and Christmas, both of which have been critically acclaimed as well. While in New Mexico, the St. John’s Cathedral Choir was directed by such notable Anglican choral directors as Dr. Gerre Hancock, Sir David Willcocks, Dr. Murray Forbes Somerville, and Bruce Neswick.
Trained as a choral and orchestral conductor, an organist and cellist, Mr. Barber holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, and a Master of Music Degree from the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. His primary teachers have included Alexander Anderson (Rollins), Dr. Robert S. Baker and Dr. Gerre E. Hancock (Yale).
His professional affiliations are as a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians for which he is the Region V Coordinator, and as a member and Past Dean of the American Guild of Organists.
