Beginning his forty-eighth year as music director of Amor Artis, Johannes Somary has conducted such ensembles as the English Chamber Orchestra, the Irish Chamber orchestra, London's Royal Philharmonic, the Polish Television and Radio Orchestra, the New Orleans Symphony, XXI Sajandi Orkester in Tallinn, Estonia, and the Vienna Philharmonic. He has participated in many international festivals ranging from Sion, Switzerland, to Dubrovnik, from Madeira to Israel and Greece. His discography includes over sixty recordings, four of which received Stereo Review "Record of the Year" awards and three of which were first recordings of Handel oratorios. As composer, he was commissioned by the Jefferson Music Festival, the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, and the Benedictine Monastery of San Anselmo in Rome. His Taroko Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was recorded in Saint Petersburg, Russia, for Albany Records, and his dramatic cantata The Prodigal Son, commissioned by the Universal Sacred Music Foundation, was premiered to great acclaim in New York in the spring of 2008. Since coming to New York in 1959, he has served as choirmaster and music director in several churches, including the Cathedral of Saint Patrick. Currently teaching at both Columbia University and the College of Mount Saint Vincent, he is also serving as conductor of Connecticut's Fairfield County Chorale, which in March 2009 will be recording The Seasons by Haydn for Lyrichord.