Dr. Cara Tasher has served as director of choral Studies at The University of North Florida since 2006. Prior to that appointment, she performed and recorded with conductors Abbado, Barenboim, Burdick, Eschenbach, Levine, Shaw and Solti, and was associated with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Conspirare, Jacksonville Symphony, Trinity Choir-Wall Street, Xavier University, and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. Proficient in several languages, Tasher’s engagements as singer, conductor, and adjudicator, have brought her to over 20 countries for concerts, competitions, and workshops. Global and cultural competency is a focal point of her work. She is proud to collaborate frequently as director huésped of the professional 60-voice Coro del Teatro de Bellas Artes in Mexico City since 2009. She presented at the 2014 World Symposium of Choral Music (WSCM) in Seoul, Korea, and was invited to present at the 2020 WSCM in New Zealand. Ensembles under her direction have toured to the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, and South Africa. Her studies took place at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), UT-Austin, Paris IV-La Sorbonne, and Northwestern University. Cara is active within the American Choral Directors Association, International Federation of Choral Music, and the National Collegiate Choral Organization in various leadership capacities. Dr. Tasher conducts the Chamber Singers, Osprey Treble Chorus, teaches the graduate conducting curriculum, and leads the choral department and its leadership team. Recent collaborations include Sing Around The gloBe, an international endeavor, and Messiah on the Move, a video form of their frequently staged choral concerts. At UNF, she has received several awards and grants supporting her Jacksonville SINGS! initiatives including the September Honor Chorus Invitational, Refugee Chorus, Conductors Studio and Summer Vocal Artists. Her recent guest invitations were in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, New Zealand, Mexico, Michigan, Oman, Singapore, South Carolina, South Africa, and Texas. Her next guest appearance will be in July 2022 with Leading Voices in The Netherlands.

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