Alex Gartner

Alex Gartner is the Artistic & Executive Director of the Pensacola Children’s Chorus (PCC). Under his leadership since 2016, PCC’s programs have expanded to include 14 ensembles and unique initiatives that spread music throughout Northwest Florida and Southwest Alabama through innovative means of performance, creativity, and collaboration. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Gartner previously served as the Assistant Director of the Cincinnati Youth Choir and presently serves on the faculty of the Dr. Grier Williams School of Music at the University of West Florida. An active composer and clinician, he has conducted all-state and regional honor choirs and led presentations throughout the United States. His own choirs have performed twice at Carnegie Hall and in many other esteemed concert venues across the country and internationally in China, Italy, France, Ireland, and Costa Rica. As a vocal advocate for the performing arts, he presently serves as chair of the national Advocacy Committee of the American Choral Directors Association and previously served on the Arts Education Advisory Committee for Americans for the Arts. He is the co-author of The Business of Choir, a resource for choir directors who seek to expand the scope and scale of their choral programs. Mr. Gartner holds a certificate in Arts & Culture Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania, along with advanced degrees in Music Education from the University of Florida and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was the recipient of the John Leman Award for Outstanding Choral Leadership. He was a recent recipient of the Louis Botto Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Chorus America.