Paul McGovern has over 30 years of experience teaching music to all ages, from kindergarten to college. Most recently, he directed choral and instrumental ensembles and taught music classes in several schools in the Portland Public School District. Previously, he taught music courses and directed choirs at Saint Joseph’s College, SUNY-Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, and Georgia Southern University. With an affinity for technology, he recently transitioned to a career in educational technology, serving as a Technology Integrator and Technology Director in several school districts in central Maine. 

Throughout his career, he has conducted performances of several choral masterworks, including Handel’s Messiah and Four Coronation Anthems, Haydn’s Stabat Mater, Missa Sancti Nicolai, and Missa in Tempore Belli, Britten’s Saint Nicolas, several cantatas by J. S. Bach, and Requiem settings by Mozart, Fauré, and Duruflé. He has conducted choral ensembles of all types and sizes. For several years, he was the Conductor of the Southern Maine Children’s Choir, part of the University of Southern Maine’s Portland Youth Ensemble program. Previously, he served as music director of the Granite State Choral Society, based in Rochester, NH, and the University of Maine-Farmington Community Chorus. He has also served as Chorus Master for the White Mountain Musical Arts Summer Bach Festival and several Opera Maine productions. 

Paul was a member of the St. Mary Schola for several years. In March 2023, he served as Interim Music Director conducting a program of Lenten choral music that included J. S. Bach’s cantata Aus der Tiefen (BWV 131), and his own edition of a Miserere mei setting attributed to Constanzo Festa. He has performed with Blue Hill Bach in performances of Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt. Previously, he has sung with Choral Art’s chamber choir, The Camerata, and in the chorus for several Opera Maine productions. Dr. McGovern received his Bachelor’s degree from Queens College/CUNY and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Choral Conducting from Indiana University. His conducting teachers include Jan Harrington, Robert Porco, and Thomas Dunn. While in graduate school, he prepared the chorus for several productions of IU’s renowned opera program, including John Adams’s Nixon in China, William Bolcom’s McTeague, and Verdi’s Rigoletto. His doctoral document, A Conductor’s Analysis of Paul Hindemith’s “When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d” was nominated for the ACDA Julius Herford Choral Dissertation Award. He also conducted performances of several orchestral masterpieces such as Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides (Op. 26), Schumann’s Cello Concerto, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”).