meet our music director

 Timothy Morningstar. M. Mus., earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Voice from the University of Michigan. He has sung with the Papagena Opera Company, San Francisco City Summer Opera, Arkansas Opera Theatre, Des Moines Metro Opera and L’Opera De Lille, France.

Quite active in concert, Mr. Morningstar has sung with the National Arts Chamber Orchestra, the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra and the Baroque Magnificat Orchestra.

Recital performances include San Francisco Noontime Concerts-Old St. Mary’s, San Francisco Performances at Six and the San Francisco radio program Westcoast Weekend – KQED. He presented a concert of music by British and American composers for Performances Today broadcast on National Public Radio.

As an opera director, Mr. Morningstar has staged over thirty standard and contemporary operatic works, some of which include Cosi Fan Tutte, Madame Butterfly, The Coronation of Poppea, Il Segretto di Susanna, Cavalleria Rusticana, The Merry Widow, The Barber of Seville, The Old Maid and the Thief, Amahl and the Night Visitors, A Game of Chance, A Hand of Bridge and The Impresario.

Mr. Morningstar has directed for California Chamber Opera Theatre, Donald Pippin’s Pocket Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera, California State University-Hayward, San Francisco State University, the University of Vermont and SUNY Plattsburgh. Mr. Morningstar has presented staged pieces for the National Opera Association’s 38th Annual Convention and the National Association of Composers-U.S.A.

Founder and conductor of the Alliance Française Chorus in San Francisco, Mr. Morningstar has conducted performances of choral, operatic and musical theatre repertoire. His  Music Director/Conductor credits include the Essex Theatre Company, Holy Names College Berkeley, California, San Francisco State University, The Community Music Center of San Francisco and SUNY Plattsburgh.

An active voice teacher and clinician, he is a frequent adjudicator, clinician and guest speaker at vocal competitions, conferences and workshops throughout the United States. Mr. Morningstar has served on the music faculties of Patten College, University of Vermont, San Francisco State University and California State University-Hayward, where he taught voice, major repertoire, vocal pedagogy, stage basics and directed the Opera Workshop. He was also the Director of the Opera Program for Summer Song, a vocal workshop for young singers in the San Francisco Bay area.

Mr. Morningstar is the recipient of numerous scholastic and musical awards, including the 2014 SUNY Chancellor’s Award For Excellence in Adjunct Teaching and the SUNY Plattsburgh Award for Teaching Excellence for Adjunct Faculty. He is past President of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and the former Vermont District Governor of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. His students have performed with regional opera companies and equity musical theatre companies throughout the United States and Europe.  Mr. Morningstar is currently on the music faculty of SUNY Plattsburgh where he teaches Voice, Musical Theatre, Music Appreciation. Recent Conducting/Music Directing performances include the Music and Theatre Department’s Fall 2015 co-production of Oklahoma! and Champlain Valley Voices Winter Concert A Joyous Nowell.