Dr. Joshua W. Rohde is the Director of Choral Activities at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he conducts all four of the university’s choral ensembles – Men’s Glee Club, Women’s Alden Voices, Festival Chorus, and the Chamber Choir. He is also the Music Director of the Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra and an active professional cellist throughout the New England area.

Dr. Rohde’s work spans multiple musical genres, including new music from living composers. This is seen through his dissertation on living Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan and work as the founding manager of Harvard University’s New Music Initiative. Notable world premieres of new music include Rohde’s work with Pulitzer Prize winning composers David Lang (Birmingham New Music, England, 2014) and John Luther Adams (Lincoln Center, New York City, 2018).

Previous experience includes work with the Quincy Choral Society, Boston University’s Marsh Chapel, the Harvard University Choruses, the University of Birmingham (UK), and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus (UK). Dr. Rohde holds degrees from Boston University (DMA and MSM – Conducting), the University of Birmingham in England (MM – Conducting), and the University of Minnesota (BM – Cello Performance and BS – Civil Engineering). He has prepared choruses to sing for conductors such as Harry Christophers, Andris Nelsons, and John Storgårds. As a soloist, he has played cello concertos with orchestras including Elgar and Shostakovich, and regularly works as a continuo cellist playing the choral-orchestral works of Bach.

Recent performances include: Bach – St. Matthew Passion; Brahms – Requiem; Jessica Curry – The Durham Hymns (USA premiere); Handel – Messiah; MacMillan – St. Luke Passion (Massachusetts premiere); Vaughan Williams – Dona Nobis Pacem; Verdi – Requiem; and works by living composers Kim André Arnesen, Jocelyn Hagen, James Kallembach, Martin Sedek, and Dale Trumbore.