New Additions to ACDA National Standing Committees

ACDA is pleased to announce that new appointments have been made to two of its national standing committees. Dr. Nicolás Dosman is now a member of the International Activities Committee, and Dr. Joni Jensen has joined the Composition Initiatives Committee.

ACDA’s standing committee are made up of member volunteers who have specific expertise and experience in the areas for which they are responsible. The International Activities Committee, chaired by Dr. Joshua Habermann (other members: Jeremy Jones, Wendy Moy, and John Warren), works to inspire excellence in choral music by fostering community across borders, being a resource for developing nations to connect with best practices, and creating professional opportunities for the next generation of choral leaders. The Composition Initiatives Committee, chaired by Dan Forest (other members: Robert Bode, Brandon Boyd, and Katie Houts), fosters and encourages the creation of quality new music for choruses of all sizes, ages, and abilities by actively supporting the work of living composers through commissions, awards, projects, and other avenues.

Dr. Nicolás Alberto Dosman is Associate Professor of Music-Choral Conducting and Director of Choral Studies at the University of Southern Maine (USM), Osher School of Music. He is also the Chorus Master for Opera Maine and the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s “Magic of Christmas Chorus.” Under his leadership, the USM Chamber Singers have performed at ACDA conferences, NAfME conferences and made their Carnegie Hall debut. On the international stage, the USM Chamber Singers performed at the 2019 Vietnam International Choir Competition where they received a Gold Diploma and an invitation to perform at the Grand Prize Finale.

In 2018, Dr. Dosman was a headliner for the Encuentro Latinoamericano de Música Coral in the Republic of Panama and served as a clinician for their virtual sessions in 2020 and 2021. In 2017 he was the headliner for the Canta Cantemus Festival Chorus in Cuernavaca, Mexico, as part of the ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program: ICEP of the Americas. Dosman frequently presents workshops at state, regional, and national ACDA and NAfME conferences.

In addition to his academic and artistic responsibilities, Dr. Dosman is the Maine ACDA past-president and had served on the national board of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. He founded the Miami Choral Festival in 2008 and was also the chair of the Miami-Dade/Monroe County region of the Florida Vocal Association while serving as a public school teacher. He studied choral conducting with Dr. Dino Anagnost at Columbia University and Drs. André Thomas and Kevin Fenton at Florida State University (FSU).  Prior to his graduate studies at FSU, he attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In addition to his formal education, he had the opportunity to attend an intensive choral conducting workshop with Grammy award winning conductor Charles Bruffy.

Dr. Joni Jensen is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Voice at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) in Denton, TX. She received a B.M. in vocal performance and pedagogy and a M.M. in choral conducting from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT.  She received her D.M.A. in choral conducting, minor in vocal performance, at the University of Arizona.

The TWU Concert Choir is a premier collegiate treble chorus in the United States. Under her direction, they have performed internationally and at many conferences including concerts presented at the National Collegiate Choral Association conference and the American Choral Directors Association national conference. As a conductor and clinician, Dr. Jensen is in demand, and is consistently invited for numerous honor and festival choirs throughout the United States. She has most recently conducted all-state ensembles in Oklahoma, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Dr. Jensen is also a renowned composer and arranger. She has several pieces published with Walton Music, including “El Vito,” which is a popular all-state piece. She is also the editor of a series at Hal Leonard for advanced women’s choral music and has many pieces published there as well.

In community work, Dr. Jensen is an Associate Dean and Musical Director of  Millennial Choirs and Orchestras (MCO). MCO is a multi-location organization, the largest of its kind in the world, and has ensembles throughout the western U. S. Wacdaith MCO, she has toured across the nation and recorded several albums and video productions. Their album “Millennial Song,” released in 2019, peaked at #1 on the Classical Album Billboard Chart.

Aside from her performing and teaching activities, Dr. Jensen has research interests in vocal pedagogy in the choral setting, choral conducting technique, baroque performance practice,  women’s choral literature, and choral arranging and composition.