About
Dr. Kent E. Hatteberg is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Louisville, where he conducts the Collegiate Chorale, Cardinal Singers, and University Chorus, and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and literature courses. He received the Bachelor of Music degree in piano and voice summa cum laude from the University of Dubuque and the master’s and doctorate in choral conducting from The University of Iowa, where he studied conducting with Don V Moses and conducted the renowned Old Gold Singers.
Named a Fulbright Scholar in 1990, Dr. Hatteberg studied conducting and choral-orchestral literature in Berlin, Germany with Uwe Gronostay (conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Choir and Professor for Conducting at the Hochschule der Künste), pursued research on the works of Felix Mendelssohn, and sang in the Berlin Philharmonic Choir. His doctoral thesis contains urtext editions of Mendelssohn’s Gloria and Große Festmusik zum Dürerfest, two previously unpublished works for chorus and orchestra. In 1997 he conducted the world premiere of the Gloria on the University of Louisville campus. The Große Festmusik was given its first modern performance at the Konzerthaus in Berlin on November 10, 2000, with the score provided by Dr. Hatteberg. He has lectured on Mendelssohn’s early works in the United States and Germany.
Dr. Hatteberg made his international professional conducting debut in 1993 as a guest-conductor with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, a professional choir in Amsterdam. He is co-director of the Kentucky Ambassadors of Music, a program that affords students from across the state of Kentucky the opportunity to perform and tour in Europe. He was the choral director for the Iowa Ambassadors of Music in 1988 and 1990.
Dr. Hatteberg is active nationally and internationally as a guest-conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. He has conducted numerous All-States and Honor Choirs in the United States, and recently served on the International Jury at the Tolosa Choral Contest in Tolosa, Spain. He serves as Chorus Master for the Louisville Orchestra and has prepared choruses for performances with the Choral Arts Society, Kentucky Opera, and the Louisville Orchestra.
Dr. Hatteberg taught at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids from 1983 to 1989. In that time the Washington High School Concert Choir and/or Madrigal Singers were chosen to perform at the North Central ACDA Convention in Minneapolis (1988), the National MENC Convention in Indianapolis (1988), the North Central MENC Convention in Columbus (1989), the North Central MENC Convention in Minneapolis (1987), the National MENC Convention in Anaheim (1986), and the state IMEA convention in Des Moines (1989, 1985). The Show Choir “Momentum” won or placed at numerous show choir competitions. He taught secondary choral music in Solon, Iowa from 1977-1980.
After fulfilling his Fulbright Scholarship in 1990-1991, Dr. Hatteberg served five years as Director of Choral Activities at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas (1991-1996). He conducted the Sam Houston Chorale in performances for the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Convention in San Antonio in 1995 and for the MENC National Convention in Kansas City in 1996.
Dr. Hatteberg was named a University of Louisville Faculty Scholar in 2002. In 2004 he was named the Kentucky Music Educators Association College/University Teacher of the Year. His biography appears in the newly-published International Who’s Who in Choral Music. In 2008 he received the Robert K. Baar Award for Choral Excellence from the Kentucky Choral Directors Association. The University of Dubuque, his undergraduate institution, awarded him the Alumni Professional Achievement Award in 2008.
Through his work as overseer of the Margaret Comstock Choral Endowment Fund in the School of Music, Dr. Hatteberg has commissioned new music, hosted international choral ensembles in the Margaret Comstock Concert Series, recorded compact discs with the Cardinal Singers, and afforded students in the choral program the opportunity to attend and participate in choral events nationally and internationally.