About The Choir 

Chamber Singers of Iowa City is a volunteer chorus of approximately 50 singers chosen annually by audition. Many of the performances comprising our typical three-concert seasons are performed with orchestral accompaniment and soloists. Such orchestras are formed from professional and amateur musicians from the local and regional area.

Chamber Singers is funded by annual dues from chorus members, private and corporate donations, as well as state and national grants. The board of directors is the primary fundraising force behind the group.

Our board of directors is chosen annually by the membership. These volunteers work closely with the Music Director to produce concerts, publicize performances, raise funds, and manage chorus membership.

Musical Leadership

Dr. David Puderbaugh

David Puderbaugh

Music Director

David Puderbaugh has served as Music Director of Chamber Singers of Iowa City since 2002. During his tenure, the choir has performed the finest choral works, large and small, for

  • eastern Iowa audiences. Highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Seasons, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, a Carnegie Hall performance of Haydn’s Missa Cellensis, and a presentation of Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus for the national conference of the American Handel Society. Dr. Puderbaugh is Assistant Director of Choral Activities at the University of Iowa, where he conducts University Choir, teaches graduate choral literature, supervises undergraduate choral conducting, and advises D.M.A. theses. He also serves as Associate Director of the School of Music, overseeing the graduate program. A native Iowan, Dr. Puderbaugh holds a music education degree from Drake University and graduate degrees in choral conducting from the University of Missouri and the University of Iowa. Beyond the university, Dr. Puderbaugh’s research interest centers on Estonian choral music, which began with a Fulbright Fellowship to study that country’s Soviet-era national song festivals. He conducted the Estonian chamber choir Voces Musicales (now Voces Tallinn) in the album A Black Birch in Winter: American and Estonian Choral Music (MSR Classics, 2019), awarded 2019 Recording of the Year by the Estonian Choral Association. In July 2023, he and Voces Tallinn were headline performers at the College Music Society’s international conference in the Baltics. Dr. Puderbaugh is president of Midwestern ACDA, and has served on the editorial board of ACDA’s Choral Journal.  He is an active tenor soloist; recent credits include Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, Mozart’s C-Minor Mass, and the Evangelist role in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Schütz’s St. John Passion.here

Lynda Hakken

Lynda Hakken

Accompanist

Lynda Hakken, organist and pianist, is a freelance musician and active solo performer and accompanist whose doctoral research is the basis for a beginning method of keyboard harmony. Hakken holds a D.M.A. in Organ Performance and Pedagogy and a M.A. in Organ Performance from the University of Iowa. Her Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance is from Hope College in Michigan. She studied with Anthony Kooiker (piano); Huw Lewis, Delores Bruch, and Delbert Disselhorst (organ).

 

Board OF DIRECTORS

  • Alison Burchett

    PRESIDENT

  • Lisa D'Aunno

    SECRETARY

  • Dave Darner

    TREASURER

  • Kim Erlandson

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Kari Fomon

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Dana Gratton

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Carolina Isleib

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Michala Martin

    BOARD MEMBER

  • Julie Noble

    BOARD MEMBER

  • David Puderbaugh

    EX-OFFICIO

  • Jo Ann Benda

    PAST PRESIDENT