Dr. Cari Earnhart serves as the Director of Choral Activities at California State
University, Fresno, where she conducts the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Masterworks
Chorus, and teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting. Dr. Earnhart combines careers
as conductor, teacher and singer.
In April 2017, the Fresno State Chamber Singers, under her direction, were invited
to perform at the Library of Congress to honor the 21st US Poet Laureate. The Fresno
State Choirs maintain an active performing profile. In addition to her teaching responsibilities,
she is in high demand as an adjudicator, clinician, guest conductor and presenter.
Earnhart has worked with choirs in the US and abroad. As a conductor abroad, she served
as Director of Choral Activities at the American University of Sharjah and conductor
of Nassim al Saba, an Arabic choral music ensemble. She has also made guest conducting appearances
with the Budapesti Vándor Kórus in Budapest, Hungary; served as Maestro of Ensemble Vocale Tempus Floridum and as Maestro Collaboratore of Coro dell’ Accademia del Diletto and Coro Polofonico del Caricentro, all in Florence. She worked as musical director for Speech Bubbles theater group,
based in Istanbul from 2010-2013 and as guest conductor for the Istanbul International
Chamber Choir. Earnhart was the first female Conductor of the UNT Men’s Chorus and
served as Assistant Conductor of Schola Cantorum of Texas in Ft. Worth. In addition,
she has conducted honor choirs and served as clinician for choral festivals in Arizona,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
Texas and in Vancouver, Canada. She has presented workshops on Arabic choral music,
vocal pedagogy/epidemiology, conducting, and community building at state, national
and international conferences. Earnhart has served on the choral faculty of the Oklahoma
Summer Arts Institute since 2018. From 2016-2020, she served on the ACDA Western Region
Board as R & R Repertoire Specific Chair and currently serves as Conference Chair
for the 2022 Western Region Conference in Long Beach, CA.
An accomplished vocalist, Earnhart has appeared as a guest artist with university,
professional, and community choirs throughout the country and overseas. She began
her professional singing career in New York City and has performed in the US, Europe
and the Middle East. Earnhart has performed with several professional choirs, including:
Coro Cameristico Fiorentino (Florence, Italy), New World Voices (Dallas, TX) the New York Virtuoso Singers, The
Choral Pickup (Seattle, WA and Atlanta, GA) and with Conspirare (Austin, TX).
Earnhart holds a DMA in Choral Conducting with related field studies in Vocal Pedagogy
from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, an MM in Vocal Performance and
Pedagogy and a BM in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater,
OK. She has taught at the American University of Sharjah (UAE), the University of
North Texas, BT Müzik Evi (Istanbul), Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Oklahoma
State University, and in the Texas public schools.
