Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a highly sought-after conductor, lecturer and clinician who has led
performances and workshops on six continents. As of July 1, 2025, she is the National President
American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), having previously served on the Board of
Directors of Chorus America, as well as ACDA central division president and ACDA Michigan
state president. She is the chorus director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, a Grammy-nominated
professional orchestra and Professor Emerita of Music at Calvin University in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
Appointed in 2022 as the Editor of Hinshaw Music, a major choral music publisher in North
America, she also has a signature choral series with earthsongs and is the music editor of the
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship choral series published by GIA. She has conducted several
times at Carnegie Hall and other major concert halls in the US and was an invited guest lecturer
at the World Symposium for Choral Music held in Seoul, South Korea. Her guest conducting
engagements regularly take her to Europe, Asia, and across North America. This season, she also
has guest engagements in New Zealand and South America.
Dr. Shangkuan has served on the jury of several international choral competitions in Europe and
Asia and has led conducting masterclasses for the ACDA national and Chorus America
conferences. She has also been artist-in-residence for various prominent graduate music
programs and institutions across the US. She has conducted numerous All State choirs, ACDA
national and division honor choirs, and choral festivals nationally and internationally and has
headlined several ACDA state and other professional conferences. She has commissioned and
premiered numerous choral works and her choirs have performed at ACDA national, division
and state conferences.
The Michigan YWCA honored her with its Arts Tribute Award in 2007. In 2013, Michigan
ACDA honored her with the Maynard Klein Choral Award for “artistic excellence and lifetime
leadership in choral music.” In 2020, she received a Calvin University Award for Excellence in
Teaching. In 2023, the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) gave her its Honorary
Life Member Award for “distinguished leadership and extraordinary service to the choral
community, both nationally and internationally.”