JO ANNE WASSERMAN is in her fifteenth season as conductor and artistic director of the Santa Barbara Choral Society. She has worked with an impressive list of outstanding choral and orchestral conductors, including John Alexander and Lawrence Christensen and was chosen to participate in master classes with Paul Salamunovich, the late Robert Shaw and Roger Wagner. She has been Master Class Conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival, Chorus Master for Opera Santa Barbara, and has served on the faculty of California State University, Northridge.

Jo Anne Wasserman's dedication to music education, the development of emerging young artists, and her philosophy of increasing cultural awareness has enlivened the Santa Barbara Choral Society's commitment to sharing excellence in choral music with the arts community both locally and internationally.

In their frequent collaboration over the last decade, Ms. Wasserman has prepared choral works for the Santa Barbara Symphony, including Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" and Symphony No. 9, Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3, Zemlinsky's "Der 23^rd Psalm," the Verdi "Stabat Mater" and "Requiem" and the Bloch "Sacred Service."

Ms. Wasserman conducted the Choral Society and a collaborative communitywide chorus in the televised September 11, 2002 Worldwide Rolling (Mozart) "Requiem" in commemoration of the first anniversary of 9/11. She conducted the Choral Society and Orchestra in the Mozart "Requiem" on its 2005 Eastern European tour, with concerts in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Czesky Krumlov. Her international credits also include conducting the Choral Society on its 2007 Tour d'Italia e Bavaria in mass performances at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and in Greve, Italy, as well as in concerts of the Haydn "Theresienmesse" and Morten Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna" with Rome-based Nova Amadeus Orchestra in Rome and Florence, Italy and with the Suddeutsche Kammer Philharmonie at the acclaimed Musiksommer Festival in Ehingen, Germany.

Most recently, she conducted the Choral Society and Santa Barbara Symphony orchestra in excerpts from Orff's "Carmina Burana" at the Gala Grand Opening of the Santa Barbara Center for Performing Arts (Granada Theatre) in March 2008, and conducted the chorus and orchestra in the World Premiere production of "Carmina Burana" with the State Street Ballet. This was both the Chorus' and ballet's debut performance as Resident Companies at the Granada Theatre.

Upcoming concerts for which Ms. Wasserman will be preparing the chorus include the Handel "Messiah!", Verdi "Requiem" and Puccini's "Messe di Gloria."