Dr. Dwight Jilek

In 2018, Magnum Chorum appointed Dr. Dwight Jilek as its Artistic Director. Under his direction, the choir was invited to perform at the MN ACDA Convention in 2018, the Chorus America Virtual Convention in 2020, was the featured choral ensemble from Minneapolis-St. Paul for the 2022 Latvian Song and Dance Festival featuring Ériks Ešenvalds and the Latvian choir Anima, and in the summer of 2023 embarked on the first international tour in the choir’s history to Sweden and Norway.

In 2024, Dwight Jilek was appointed Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at North Dakota State University. Prior to NDSU, he was the Director of Choral Activities and Chair of the Music Department at Bemidji State University where he conducted The Bemidji Choir and the Bemidji Chamber Singers, and taught choral conducting, choral literature, and choral methods. Dwight led The Bemidji Choir in multiple regional, national, and international performances; dedicated the Bemidji Chamber Singers to early music performance with featured collaborations with the Bach Society of Minnesota; and served as opera conductor for Speed Dating Tonight and Pirates of Penzance.

Dwight also served as the Northwest District Chair and Collegiate Repertoire and Resources Coordinator for the Minnesota chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. Dr. Jilek has also been active as a festival conductor, most recently as the 2022-2023 MN All-State Tenor-Bass Choir and the Big 9 Festival in southern Minnesota.

A native of Dickinson, ND, Dr. Jilek completed his doctoral studies in Choral Conducting at the University of North Texas with a related field in Vocal Pedagogy and received the Outstanding Graduate Conductor award. While there, he was the Assistant Conductor to the Dallas Symphony Chorus and was Chorus Master for the Christmas with the Dallas Symphony series. He earned his Master’s in Choral Conducting at Michigan State University, and his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Music Education from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Before pursuing his graduate degrees, Dr. Jilek was vocal music director for six years (2005-2011) in Minnesota at Northfield High School where he oversaw five curricular and four extracurricular choirs, along with the curricular vocal lesson program. Under his direction, the Northfield Concert Choir was accepted by audition to perform in the inaugural Minnesota ACDA Choral Arts Finale (2006), the Minnesota State ACDA Convention (2007), the Minnesota MEA Convention (2008), and was a featured choir at the Luther College Choral Invitational (2007), and St. Olaf Choral Festival (2009). He also has over ten years of church music experience in Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota.

Dwight and his wife Alyssa and their children reside in Fargo, North Dakota.