Choirs
Faculty
Peter Barsch
Peter Barsch teaches all curricular and co-curricular choirs at Batavia High School. He also serves as Music Director for BHS Drama’s musical every year, including 42nd Street, Songs for a New World, Mamma Mia!, Cats, RENT, Theory of Relativity, The Spongebob Musical, and more.
Mr. Barsch holds a Master’s Degree in Choral Music Education from Northern Illinois University and two Bachelor’s Degrees from the Honors Program at Loyola University Chicago. Before coming to BHS in 2015, Mr. Barsch spent eleven years as the choir director at Oswego East High School. He was a Quarter-Finalist for the Grammy “Music Educator of the Year” Award and has been listed in “Who’s Who among America’s Teachers”. He has also been featured on the podcast, Profiles in Teaching with Technology.
Mr. Barsch and his wife Annie live in Batavia with their three children. An avid reader, he enjoys history, historical fiction, and science fiction/fantasy. An active clinician, he has conducted with the ILMEA District 8 Junior Mixed Choir, the Rockford All-City Choir Festival, the District 308 Junior High Choral Festival, the Batavia Elementary Choral Festival, and the NCJC Middle School Music Festival, in addition to running sectional rehearsals at the ILMEA All-State and District levels. Mr. Barsch has also presented at the Illinois All-State Music Education Conference. He also maintains a busy performing schedule, often singing and recording with groups like Cor Cantiamo, the Canturbury Singers, or the choirs at Gary United Methodist Church and Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Church. He also has experience leading contemporary worship with voice, bass, or piano.