Houston Chamber Choir has announced that Founder and Artistic Director Robert Simpson will be stepping down at the end of the 2024-25 season, the company’s 30th.

In his stead, Dr. Betsy Cook Weber will become Guest Conductor during the 2024-25 season and then take over as Artistic Director and Conductor during the 2025-26 season. Simpson will continue to serve as Canon for Music at Christ Church Cathedral and Adjunct Lecturer of Church Music at Shepherd School, Rice University.

Simpson founded Houston Chamber Choir in 1995 and led teh organization to  tremendous success culminating in a Grammy Award in 2020 for “Best Choral Performance” for the Signum Records recording of “Duruflé: Complete Choral Works.” The organization also made numerous world premieres under his direction by such composers as Jalbert, Chilcott, and Knaggs.

Weber is the Madison Endowed Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at the University of Houston’s Moore School of Music.