jace Kaholokula saplan

Dr. Jace Kaholokula Saplan serves as the Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa where he teaches courses in undergraduate and graduate choral conducting and pedagogy, conducts the Concert Choir and the University of Hawai'i Chamber Singers, and oversees the graduate choral conducting program. 

 Known for his work in celebrating the intersection between Hawaiian music and choral performance, he is the artistic director of Nā Wai Chamber Choir and Nā Mamo Vocal Ensemble, a professional vocal ensemble based in Hawaiʻi dedicated to the preservation and propagation of Hawaiian choral music. Under his direction, he has commissioned and mentored emerging Native Hawaiian composers and conductors, won multiple Global Music Awards, and was the recipient of the International Choral Organization’s “Ensemble of the Year” award. 

Prior to his appointment to the University of Hawai’i, Dr. Saplan served as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Hamilton College and the Artistic Director of the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble. He also was the chorus master for the Frost Opera Program at the University of Miami where he prepared a number of contemporary works such as Golijov’s Ainadamar, Kuster’s Old Presque Isle (done in collaboration with the John Duffy Composer’s Institute and the Virginia Arts Festival), and a premiere work by Grammy-nominated composer Shawn Crouch. 

His work in preparing choruses and as a festival clinician are vast, resulting in performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Hall, The Oregon Bach Festival, Old South Church (Boston), Church of the Holy Trinity (Philadelphia), La Madeline (France), and the Harrogate Music Festival (UK).