John Cuk
Music Director & Conductor
Recently retired from teaching, John’s career in academia spanned 40 years. He has led choirs at the high school level, at Scarsdale and Somers High Schools and at the college level as the Director of Choirs at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. He has conducted festivals choirs in Dutchess and Westchester Counties, CMEA Western Connecticut and SCMEA Division 3.
John has conducted in Europe, South America and the United States at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, St.Peter’s Basilica, The Vaitican, Marmorsaal, Schloss Mirabell, Salzburg, Austria, Kennedy Library, Boston, Música Sin Edad, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Temppeliaukio, Helsinki, Finland. In addition, he was a finalist for The American Prize in Conducting both at the College/University Chorus Division and High School Division.
Active in musical theater and opera, he has held positions with Utopia Opera, New York, USA Music in the Alps International Festival, Austria, Opera Estate, Rome Italy, Dell’ Arte Opera, New York, Buck Hill/Skytop Festival, Pennsylvania, USA and as musical director for countless musical theater productions both at the high school and college level.
Guest conducting includes Chorus and Orchestra of Teatrului Național de Operă și Balet ‘Oleg Danovski’ Constanța, Romania, Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra Connecticut, USA, Orchestra Sinfonica di Bacau, Massa, Italy Moldova Radio Symphony Chisinau, Moldova, National Chorale’s Annual Messiah-Sing-In Avery Fisher Hall, New York, USA.
Recent engagements: Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Romania last June, “NIN11 Festival”, Hartford Opera Theater, “Women’s Composer Wednesday”, “Aperitivi: A Virtual Concert Series” “An Afternoon of Chamber Music” with the Lotus Music Collective in Ridgefield, CT. John is co-interim organist at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Ridgefield, CT and will be performing with The Immersion Repertory Company in February at the National Opera Center in New York. He is active as pianist and vocal coach and resides in Danbury.