Lee Nelson is the Patricia R. Zahn Chair in choral conducting and the Director of Choral Activities at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA.  Dr. Nelson conducts the Wartburg Choir, Ritterchor (men’s choir), teaches advanced conducting, and serves as the artistic director of Christmas with Wartburg.  

Dr. Nelson made his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in 2011 and is scheduled to conduct there again in May of 2012.  In 2011, Nelson conducted the Wartburg Choir on a month long tour of Hungary, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He has conducted all state and honor choirs in Colorado, New York, Alaska, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska and Manitoba, Canada.  The Wartburg Choir has also received invitations to sing at the 2012 North Central American Choral Director's Association convention and to sing at a special event at the White House.  

Prior to his appointment at Wartburg College, Dr. Nelson served on the faculty at St. Cloud State University where he received the SCSU Professional Achievement Award in 2008.  Under his direction the St. Cloud State Choir was invited to perform at the 2007 MN ACDA fall convention and toured throughout the Midwest and Canada.  In May of 2008, the choir toured Germany, France and Switzerland and presented the European premiere of Stephen Paulus’ Holocaust oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn at the site of a former Nazi concentration camp in Natzweil-Struthof.  

            In addition to his work at Wartburg College, Dr. Nelson also serves as the music director and conductor of the Metropolitan Chorale, a 100-voice community choir based in the Cedar Valley.  Nelson has led the ensemble in a performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Felix Mendelssohn’s Vom Himmel hoch, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, Ralph Vaughan Williams Toward the Unknown Region, and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Dr. Nelson earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.  He has received graduate instruction from Westminster Choir College and is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from the University of Arizona where he received a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree.