Director

Jess Wade retired in 2013 after 25 years as Assistant Coordinator of Choral Activities at Texas A&M University, where he conducted the 80-voice auditioned mixed choir and the 60-voice auditioned women’s chorus. For 25 years, he was also Artistic Director/Conductor of the Brazos Valley Chorale, the area’s 120-voice auditioned community chorus, which performed four concerts each season, including a major work with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, a Christmas concert, a pops concert, and a spring concert of varied repertoire. 

Mr. Wade has worked with and prepared choirs for Sir David Willcocks, Robert Shaw, John Rutter, and Robert Wagner. He holds a BME from Southwest Baptist University, an MM from Kansas State University, and has completed course work for a Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before teaching at Texas A&M, he taught high school in Independence, Missouri, outside Kansas City, Missouri. He was also a very active member of the American Choral Directors association and Chorus America.

Mr. Wade is originally from Springfield, Missouri. He now resides in Holiday Island, Arkansas.