Jermaine Hill - Moderator

Jermaine Hill joined the Conservatory in 2021, and brings his experience as a multihyphenate artist-educator to his role as assistant chair of the Theater Division. A native of New York, Hill received a B.M. in vocal performance from Ithaca College and a M.M. with academic honors in vocal performance from New England Conservatory of Music.

Most recently, he music directed and reorchestrated Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies, for which he won the 2020 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Music Direction. Other recent credits include Spunk (Roundabout Theatre’s Refocus Project), Goodman Theatre's The Music Man (directed by Mary Zimmerman and choreographed by Denis Jones), The Color Purple (Drury Lane Oakbrook), Nell Gwynn (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), and Too Heavy for Your Pocket (TimeLine Theatre). 

As a singer, he has performed with such diverse groups as the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme/Aldeburgh Festival, and the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble. Recent acting credits include a guest spot on NBC's Chicago Med; commercials with Onion Labs and BlueCross/BlueShield; and the role of Sam in Breathe with Me (Erasing the Distance). He is an ensemble member of Griffin Theatre and is on the artistic council of the Sarah Siddons Society.

Prior to joining the Conservatory, Hill was an assistant professor of theatre and coordinator of the musical theatre program at Columbia College Chicago, where he instituted a national search for new musicals written by historically marginalized writers and composers. Before his work in academia, he worked for Royal Caribbean Productions as a show cocreator, music director, arranger, orchestrator, and rehearsal and production supervisor for hundreds of productions shows and music events throughout their fleet. He maintains a small roster of private voice students, including Tony and Grammy Award winner Heather Headley.