Dr. Jonathan Kilgore, director of Choral Activities and the Fine Arts Department chair at MGCCC’s Jackson County Campus, has been named president of the Mississippi American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He has been a member of ACDA for 15 years and has served in a leadership capacity on the Mississippi ACDA Board of Directors for the past five years.

As Mississippi ACDA president, he is responsible for planning and executing six annual events to further choral music and choral music education in the state.  These events include a Solo and Ensemble Festival, Male Vocal Symposium, Contemporary A Cappella Festival, Children’s Choir Festival, ACDA/MMEA Joint State Conference and Summer Conference. Additionally, he serves as the Mississippi representative at all regional and national conferences. The President maintains/approves state budgets and chairs several committees, including the Long Range Planning Committee. This position is elected by the state membership at large, made up of choral educators and professionals teaching in all age groups and settings.

Prior to his appointment at MGCCC, Kilgore served as director of Choral Activities at Jackson Academy in Jackson, Mississippi. While at JA, he produced and directed musical theatre shows, maintained multiple touring choral ensembles, and directed the show choir.  For nine years, he served in the Music and Worship Ministry of First Baptist Church with Larry Black. At First Jackson, he was instrumental in building and maintaining a 75-voice high school choir and a 65-voice junior high school choir. He was also active with the Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra.

Since leaving Jackson, Kilgore has taken interim and supply positions at churches in both Mississippi and Alabama. While at Gulf Coast, he has conducted Concert Choir and The Voices and taught courses in music theory, music appreciation and private voice.

Kilgore has conducted a variety of ensembles, including show choirs, concert choirs and vocal jazz groups. He has planned and led concert tours to Brazil, Canada, Hawaii, California and Texas, as well as many trips in the Southeast region. In addition, choirs under his leadership have performed in Austria, the Czech Republic and throughout Italy.  As a graduate assistant at The University of Southern Mississippi, Kilgore worked annually with many of the choral ensembles and symphony orchestra, and collaborated with Dr. Jay Dean to coordinate the chorus for large-scale events with artists such as Patti LaBelle and Dionne Warwick.

Kilgore is active as an adjudicator and clinician in the Southeast. He is currently serving as president of the Mississippi chapter of the American Choral Directors Association and maintains membership in the College Music Society, the National Association for Music Education and the National Collegiate Choral Organization. He holds a doctorate in musical arts and a master’s degree in music in conducting from USM and a Bachelor of Science degree in music from Millsaps College. Principal professors and mentors include Gregory Fuller, Larry Black and Timothy Coker.

Founded in 1959, the American Choral Directors Association is a nonprofit music education organization with a mission to inspire excellence in choral music through education, performance, composition, and advocacy.

ACDA membership consists of choral directors who represent more than one million singers across the United States. ACDA members teach choral music in public and private schools – kindergarten through senior high school – and at the college and university levels.  Visit the Mississippi American Choral Directors Association.