Joshua Hughes is a gifted educator, singer, conductor, and performer. Hailing from Missouri, he received his Bachelor of Music Education in Vocal Music from Oklahoma City University. While studying at OCU, he taught private voice lessons to students of all ages and taught throughout the Oklahoma City area in Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, and High Schools. During his Sophomore year, he began assistant directing the Young Men’s Chorus of the Canterbury Youth Choruses: Oklahoma City’s premier youth chorus. He quickly rose through the ranks, serving as the Young Men’s Chorus Director and then intern to the Artistic director and the entire organization. In this capacity, he worked with students from second grade through high school, eased young men through the voice transition, and conducted a wide range of performances from small community outreach venues to major concert halls. In his final year in Oklahoma, Hughes served as Director of Music Ministries at Wesley United Methodist Church in El Reno, directing the adult chancel choir, the handbell choir, and the children’s choir.

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After receiving his BME in 2013, he moved to Baltimore, MD to pursue graduate studies at The Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University. In addition to teaching voice and piano lessons in Washington D.C. and being contracted by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts to teach at Waverly Elementary, he became the Assistant Music Director of First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ellicott City, MD. This position included cantoring, directing the adult/teen choir, and directing the children’s choir. He also created and directed a week-long children’s summer music theatre camp that ministered to both the church and the wider Howard County community. While studying at Peabody, he continued to teach private voice lessons and substitute taught in the Baltimore City Public Schools. He also served as the English as a Second Language (ESL) Graduate Assistant, teaching ESL courses, tutoring, assisting the Humanities faculty, and attending to the large international population at Peabody. In addition, Hughes created the position of Student Development Coordinator through Peabody Student Affairs and developed a civic engagement program for conservatory students.

 

Joshua most recently lived in Dallas, TX where he taught private voice lessons. He also served as Director of Children’s Music at Canyon Creek Presbyterian Church in Richardson, TX leading the Children’s Covenant Choir, the Children’s Celebration Handbell Choir, and directing the spring children's musical. He now lives in Palo Alto, CA where he taught voice, trumpet, and piano lessons at New Mozart School of Music.

 

In addition to conducting and educating, Hughes is an in-demand performer. Lauded for his “lush, rich" bass-baritone voice (TheatreBloom) and "brilliant vocal range” (DC Metro Theater Arts), he has performed in educational, community, and professional opera, operetta, and musical theatre productions throughout the country. Hughes is a member of both the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).