M E E T    T H E    C O N D U C T O R S

Joseph Wilkinson, bass, is the Director of Music Ministries at Starkville First UMC; a position he has held since June 2021. He is also the immediate past Artistic Directors for the Meistersingers of Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS, 9 years) and the Jackson Choral Society (Jackson, MS, 2 years). In 2019, Wilkinson was a featured Conductor Artist with Vox Anima London, conducting Dan Forrest's Te Deum at Cadogan Hall in London, England with the composer. He returns to London this summer to conduct Missa Deus Nobiscum with British composer, Philip Stopford, at Southwark Cathedral.

Wilkinson received a Master's in Music, majoring in Sacred Music and Vocal Performance, with advanced study in Choral Conducting from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to earning his Master’s degree, Wilkinson received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from The University of Mississippi. His postgraduate studies took him to England, where he was a Choral Scholar at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities through the Oxbridge Institute. 

As a Solo Artist, Wilkinson has performed frequently as bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Faure’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs; appearing with the Louisville Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony, Mississippi Symphony, and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra (England). He has additionally performed with Kentucky Opera, Des Moines Metropolitan Opera, and Chautauqua Opera; roles include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro; Banco in Macbeth; Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni; Phanuel in Herodiade; Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Rocco in Fidelio; Lodovico in Otello.