Jon Harney is a professor of music at Montana State University-Bozeman and received his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, where he studied under Weston Noble, and Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Vocal Performance from the University of Minnesota where he studied with Clifton Ware. As a tenor soloist, he has sung more than twenty-five principal and supporting roles in opera, operetta, and major works with orchestra and chorus. Performances in Montana have included several appearances with Opera Montana as well performances as tenor soloist with the symphonies in Bozeman, Butte and Great Falls.
Harney was chorus master for Opera Montana from 2001-2015 preparing the opera chorus for twenty productions and was conductor of the Bozeman Symphonic Choir from 2011 to 2022. He started serving as conductor of the Great Falls Symphonic Choir in 2024.
Prior to coming to MSU, Harney was on the voice faculty of Macalester College and directed high school choirs in the North St. Paul school district. In 2001, Dr. Harney joined the MSU-Bozeman music faculty where he teaches studio voice lessons and voice-related classes. In 2002, he was selected as one of twelve voice teachers nationwide to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern Program working under master teacher Elaine Bonazzi. Harney was selected to sing in the Westminster Choir College Chamber Choir in residence in Florence, Italy in summer 2008 singing under the direction of Joe Miller and in July 2010 sang under the direction of Dale Warland as part of the Festival Chorale at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.
His students have gone on to graduate voice programs at Boston University, the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the University of Oregon and Mannes School of Music.