Department chair Robert Cowles is a professor of music at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where, since 1992, he has directed the choral ensembles and taught music theory and conducting in the Department of Music. He is also Artistic Director of the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, a semi-professional chamber choir in the area. Cowles is recognized widely by musicians and audiences alike as an outstanding conductor. The Syracuse Herald American has described Cowles as a musician possessing "technical and rhythmic skills beyond reproach," and he is frequently recognized for his innovative and imaginative approach to programming.

Along with regular performances of works from the various historical periods, Cowles is an acclaimed champion of new music, having conducted the world premiere performance of numerous works, many of them upon commission during his time at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He has conducted premieres by Cary John Franklin, Patrick Littlefield, HWS music professor Nicholas V. D'Angelo, W. Newell Hendricks, Paul Fetler, Lee R. Kesselman, Jacob Avshalomov, Carol Barnett, Jan Bach, Michael Ives, Craig Weston, Michael Dellaira, Edie Hill, Scott Gendel, Paul Lansky, Olli Kortekangas, and George Andoniadis.

As a past Fulbright Scholar to the republic of Estonia Cowles taught choral literature and conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music. He has visited Estonia several times for continued professional work. In 2004 Cowles took an ensemble comprised of Syracuse Vocal Ensemble and HWS Colleges singers to the famed Estonian Song Festival and on a concert tour throughout Europe's entire Baltic region.

Cowles has guest lectured for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and the Eastman School of Music and has presented conducting master classes at the Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki, Finland. He has served as an international adjudicator at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. In addition, he has sung with elite choral ensembles such as the Dale Warland Singers and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

Prior to his time in Central New York, Cowles held choral faculty positions at Moorhead State University in Moorhead, MN, and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Cowles received his B.A. from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN; his M.M. from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, and his D.M. from Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, IN.

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