David Batter is the founding conductor of the Omaha Chamber Singers. He is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he conducts three choral ensembles and teaches conducting. Batter is also the choir director at St. Columbkille Catholic Parish in Papillion, Nebraska, where he is past Director of Music and Liturgy. He has also served as chorusmaster for the Omaha Symphony. Batter has been Director of Music and Choirmaster at several Roman Catholic parishes in Omaha, and assisted in the initial formation of the Saint Cecilia Schola Cantorum at Saint Cecilia Cathedral.
Batter received the Bachelor of Music degree in music education and voice from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and the Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Kent State University. He pursued further graduate studies at the University of Iowa.
Batter has taught music at the elementary and secondary levels in the school districts of the Omaha Public Schools, Millard Public Schools, Council Bluffs Community Schools, and at Duchesne Academy. He has taught at the collegiate level at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, College of Saint Mary (Omaha), Kent State University, and University of Iowa. Batter serves as a clinician and adjudicator in both Nebraska and Iowa. He has sung in the choruses of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Opera Omaha, was a tenor soloist at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City with the Robert Shaw Workshop Choir at Westminster Choir College, and was a chorister and section leader of the acclaimed Robert Shaw Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall for ten years under the baton of the late Robert Shaw. In 1996 he was selected as a member of the Grammy Award winning Robert Shaw Festival Singers. Batter has served as a singer and section leader for the annual Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus under the leadership of conductors James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Sir Neville Marriner, Andrč Previn and Helmuth Rilling performing classics of the choral/orchestral repertoire with the Orchestra of St. Luke's.
Batter is a past board member of the Nebraska Choral Directors Association and served on the steering committee for the 2006 North-Central American Choral Directors convention in Omaha. He was named Outstanding Choral Director of the Year in 2007 by the Nebraska Choral Directors Association.
