what is transept?

Transept is a vocal ensemble of elite professional consort singers and select local musicians based in Sioux Falls, SD.  

A transept’s span intersects the nave to give a structure its cruciform shape. The transept carries the weight of the structure’s meaning, in other words. It changes a physical space into a sign of transcendence. 

Transept is inspired by the architecture of beauty. We interweave music for vocal consort, soloists, and choir to draw audiences into an intimate, meaningful journey. We fill spaces with the sounds of transcendence.

Founder & artistic director

Timothy J. Campbell is the Founder and Artistic Director of the vocal ensemble Transept, which was recently named Winner of The American Prize in Choral Performance (2021) and praised for its “elegant, profound beauty.” He is also Associate Professor of Music at the University of South Dakota, where he conducts the Symphonic Choir and Collegium Musicum, and the Chorus Director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with Grammy®-winning ensembles as a professional ensemble singer, and toured across the United States and Europe. As a conductor, teacher, and vocalist, Dr. Campbell brings a wealth of experience to his work with Transept.

A Sioux Falls native, Dr. Campbell is a passionate advocate for the development of vocal arts in South Dakota. This led him to found Transept in 2016. This dynamic vocal ensemble brings together some of the finest professional ensemble singers in the nation with select musicians in the region. Transept’s innovative and imaginatively crafted programs interweave works for vocal consort, soloists, and chamber choir spanning ten centuries of music — from plainchant and Renaissance masterworks to contemporary choral repertoire. Transept has also developed education and outreach initiatives which have led to collaborations in concert and masterclass settings with numerous high school, church, and collegiate ensembles in the state. Live at the Cathedral, Transept’s first album, was mastered by the Grammy®-winning studio Soundmirror, Inc. and is available on all platforms. 

Since the fall of 2014, Dr. Campbell has taught at the University of South Dakota. In addition to conducting the Symphonic Choir and Collegium Musicum, he teaches courses in choral literature, applied voice, and sight-singing. He also leads conducting practicums for undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Campbell previously served on the faculty of West Virginia University, where he worked alongside the 2019 Grammy®-Award Music Educator of the Year, Dr. Jeffery Redding. He has also served as Associate Director for Men's Consort Houston and the CORO Vocal Artists, and as Director of the St. Luke's Early Music Ensemble (TX).

The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra’s 2021-2022 Centennial Season marked the appointment of Dr. Campbell to the post of Chorus Director, making him only the third director to serve during the nearly four decades of the SDSO Chorus. During the 2023-2024 season, he will prepare Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ A German Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, and the annual holiday program Christmas with the Symphony: ’Tis the Season! Previous seasons included Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and the world premiere of Malek Jandali’s A Candle.

As a tenor, Dr. Campbell has performed with numerous professional ensembles around the country, including the Grammy®-winning ensembles Conspirare and the Houston Chamber Choir; The Rose Ensemble, VocalEssence, The Singers, Tucson Chamber Artists, Cantare Houston, the South Dakota Chorale, and Kinnara. He toured Germany and Spain with the Rose Ensemble, an internationally acclaimed early music vocal ensemble of twelve who took first prize in the prestigious Tolosa International Choral Competition. He also performed in Carnegie and Avery Fisher Hall with Conspirare, and with the Houston Chamber Choir in a performance of Tallis’ monumental 40-part Spem in Alium sung 1-part under the direction of Peter Phillips of the Tallis Scholars. 

Dr. Campbell holds degrees from Bemidji State University (B.S.), the University of Minnesota (M.M.), and the University of Arizona (D.M.A.).