09/07/2025
✨ Introducing this week's guest! ✨ Tune in at 4:30 today at 104.1 FM or online.
Dr. James B. Kinchen is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and director of the Milwaukee Choristers.
James is in frequent demand as a guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician and has been a Wisconsin Teaching Fellow. A two-time recipient of UW-Parkside’s Stella Gray Teaching Excellence Award (2002-2003 and 2014-2015), he was also given the university’s 2005-2006 Faculty Distinguished Service Award and the 2011-2012 Campus Diversity Award. He is most honored to have received the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association Morris D. Hayes Award in 2021, recognizing his achievements and contributions to the choral art. He has also been honored as a recipient of the Gateway Technical College Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award.
An affiliate of the Center for Black Music Research, James holds membership in the National Association for Music Education (formerly Music Educators National Conference), and National Collegiate Choral Organization. An active member of the American Choral Directors Association, he has served ACDA in several leadership capacities at state, regional and national levels. He has presented at state, divisional and national ACDA conventions and has written articles for and reviewed new music and new recordings for The Choral Journal. He has also served as president and vice president of the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association and the former North Central Division of ACDA, a region that encompassed Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas.
In addition to teaching and directing the UW-Parkside’s three choral groups, the University Chorale, Master Singers and Voices of Parkside, James teaches courses in basic and choral conducting, elementary and middle school choral methods, secondary choral methods, student teacher residency, African American music, and music appreciation. He is also on the music staff of Saint Paul Baptist Church, Racine.
