JONATHAN CRAMER 

ABOUT ME

In May 2015 Jonathan graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. While at Wheaton, Jonathan performed as a soloist in Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Dixit Dominus, and as an understudy for Haydn’s Creation conducted by Maestro John Nelson. During his sophomore year, he served as an honors conductor for the Wheaton College Concert Choir, and in his junior year, he organized and conducted a student performance of Schubert’s Mass in G Major, D167. In his senior year, he was selected from over two-hundred applicants to compete as one of nine semi-finalists in the National ACDA Undergraduate Conducting Competition.

For the 2015-2016 school year, Jonathan taught choral music at Lake Zurich High School (Lake Zurich, Illinois) and Palombi Middle School (Lake Villa, Illinois). From fall 2015 to spring 2018 Jonathan sang as a member of a professional choir called the St. Charles Singers (based in St. Charles, IL) but is currently taking a break to have more time to spend with his family. He has also sung as a member of the Grant Park Music Festival Chorus under the direction of Christopher Bell.

Jonathan currently teaches choir, drama, and music at Millburn Middle School (Lindenhurst, Illinois) and is studying in the 3-Summer M.M. in Choral Conducting program at Simpson College (Indianola, Iowa).  He also serves as a vocal music director for the Chicago chapter of Christian Youth Theater (CYT), a national theater organization.

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The Millburn choir annually performs in four school concerts and a choral festival hosted by High School District 117. The choir regularly participates in a local contest hosted by Northern Illinois Music Conference (NIMcon) and the last two years received high first division ratings. Additionally, he offers his students optional opportunities such as participating in NIMcon’s Solo & Ensemble contest or auditioning for ACDA’s conference honor choirs. In 2018 one of his students sang at the Central/North Central Regional Conference, three sang at the 2019 National Conference, and six will sang at the 2020 Central/North Central Regional Conference.

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In the summer of 2013, Jonathan married his high school sweetheart, Emma, after three years of long-distance dating while she attended Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. They lived nearby on Wheaton's campus while Jonathan finished his degree. They currently live in Gurnee, Illinois with their two songs, Rainen and Osher