Alistair Hamilton is a tall Northern Irishman who has led Music/Arts departments in Durham, England, Kuala Lumpur, New York, and San Francisco for 20 years. A passionate advocate for music education, equity, and the important work of nonprofits, he has served on the boards of the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, NH, and the New York Choral Consortium. Alistair formed/led New York Chamber Choirs and Accompany – a non-audition choir of 70 adults on Monday evenings at 240 Fell St., and a chamber choir on Thursday evenings with a friendly audition. Alistair is currently establishing a foundation for music education – Cadence for Change. Parents that would like to return to singing are encouraged to register.

Alistair loves to produce concerts, music tours, and coordinate festivals, and most recently led the Arts/Music department at French American. Here, he formed ensembles and the conservatory program – now the largest program in the school – and led annual concerts at SF JAZZ and the Herbst Theater. In the throes of COVID, he took the high schoolers on tour to New York and later Iceland (with the choir performing in an ice cave and the bands atop a glacier, live-streaming with drones from a volcanic beach). Alistair left French American to form a start-up – Music Wallcharts, to advance music theory for schools, and loves to compose and arrange for choirs and instrumental ensembles.

Alistair is excited to work with SFGC’s Concert Group this season, and with music theory and Premier Ensemble.