Robert Cowles has been artistic director of the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble since 1996. Under his leadership SVE has garnered a reputation for innovative programming and superb choral artistry. Cowles is a professor of music at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York, where, since 1992, he has directed the Colleges' choral ensembles and taught music theory and conducting; he serves as chair of the department of music.

As a past Fulbright Scholar to the republic of Estonia Cowles taught choral literature and conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music. He has visited Estonia several times for continued professional work. In 2004 Cowles took an ensemble comprised of Syracuse Vocal Ensemble and HWS Colleges singers to the famed Estonian Song Festival and on a concert tour throughout Europe's entire Baltic region.

Cowles has guest lectured for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and the Eastman School of Music and has presented conducting master classes at the Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki, Finland. He has served as an international adjudicator at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. In addition, he has sung with elite choral ensembles such as the Dale Warland Singers and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

Prior to his time in Central New York, Cowles held choral faculty positions at Moorhead State University in Moorhead, MN, and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Cowles received his B.A. from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN; his M.M. from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, and his D.M. from Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, IN.

Previous Artistic Directors

G. Roberts Kolb, 1990-1996
Julie Pretzat, 1986-1990
G. Burton Harbison, 1982-1986
John Armstrong, 1980-1982
Marietta Cheng, 1978-1979
Bruce Campbell, 1976-1978
Timothy Adams, 1973-1976