Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is an associate professor of Music at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she directs three choirs and teaches Choral Conducting and Choral Literature. She is also the music editor of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship music series, published by GIA. Prior to her appointment at Calvin College, she taught at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and at the Westminster Conservatory of Music at Rider University.

Frequently invited to Asia, she has led performances and given seminars in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines, as well as in Australia and Canada. She conducted all-state and honor choirs in Wyoming, New York, and in Tokyo, Japan. In the summer of 2000, she led the Calvin Alumni choir on a tour to five Asian countries. Under her direction, this choir performed at the American Choral Directors Association Central Division Convention in Chicago in March 2002 and at the Choral Hour sponsored by the Michigan ACDA in January 2001.

She has served as a clinician at various conferences, including the St. Olaf National Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts, COLAM, Worship Symposium at Calvin, and has taught choral conducting at the Westminster Choir College Summer Sessions. She regularly adjudicates for choral festivals and leads workshops for various organizations.

Dr. Shangkuan is a member of the National Board of Directors of the Choristers Guild and is President-elect of the Michigan ACDA. She has also served on the board of the New Jersey Music Teachers’ Association and the New Jersey ACDA.

She earned a Bachelor of Music in Church Music (summa cum laude) and Master of Music in Choral Conducting (with distinction) from Westminster Choir College, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from Rutgers University.