Praised by critics for his "sure authority" and for "his attention to rhythmic precision and dynamic shading [which] produced excellent results", Jerome Hoberman celebrates his thirteenth season as Music Director and Conductor of The Hong Kong Bach Choir & Orchestra in 2004-05. He has led The Choir to a pre-eminent position among Hong Kong's musical institutions, expanding its repertoire backward to the fifteenth century and forward to the present day, drawing large audiences along with critical approval. The South China Morning Post reported, "The Bach Choir stands as a refreshing oasis in which the great works flourish... This great repertoire enjoys a large audience and The Bach Choir under Hoberman's direction is a worthy guardian of its treasures."
Jerome Hoberman previously served as Music Director of the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared frequently with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. He has been a particularly welcome guest in Mainland China, conducting all the leading orchestras of Shanghai on numerous occasions. He created The Hong Kong Bach Orchestra in 1995 as a fully-professional partner of the Choir, and made his debut as guest conductor of the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2001.
Previously Music Director of the Nittany Valley Symphony and the University of Notre Dame orchestras in the United States, Hoberman has also appeared with the South Bend and Washington-Idaho symphonies, Immanuel Opera of Cincinnati, and many university and conservatory ensembles.
A strong advocate of new and unusual music, Hoberman has given a number of significant premieres, introducing the music of the distinguished Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski to Mainland China, conducting the first Shanghai performance of Chen Pei-xun's
Ode to the Snow and the Hong Kong premieres of works by Leos Janac ek, Eric Satie, Charles Ives, Carl Orff, Luigi Dallapiccola, Otto Olsson, Henryk Gorecki, Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Part, Jack Gottlieb, John Tavener, Libby Larsen, Elizabeth Pizer and Christopher Coleman. In Shanghai, he led the Mainland China premieres of Poulenc's
Concert champetre and Dragonetti's Double-Bass Concerto. In Hong Kong he has directed world premieres of music by local composers Ip Kim Ho, Christopher Coleman and Christopher Keyes, and the revival of George Chadwick's
The Angel of Death, an important American symphonic poem unheard since its first performances in 1919. For the 2004-05 season, Hoberman has commissioned Joyce Wai-chung Tang's
Han Shan for The Bach Choir & Orchestra.
Jerome Hoberman has taught at the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University (where he was Coordinator of Instrumental Studies and Director of the University Orchestra) and, in the United States, at the universities of Wisconsin and Notre Dame. Hoberman's interest in developing young talent led him to establish a Conductor Apprentice Program under the auspices of The Bach Choir, which has trained a number of talented young musicians to take leading roles in the musical lives of Hong Kong and Macau. His has been a familiar voice for many years on Radio Television Hong Kong as a commentator and presenter for Radio Four. He holds degrees from Brandeis University and the University of Wisconsin, and earned a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University, with a dissertation on the American composer Roger Sessions.
