A Virginia native, Marques L. A. Garrett is Associate Professor of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas, holding a PhD in Choral Conducting from Florida State University, an MM from UNC Greensboro, and a BA from Hampton University.
American composer, pianist, and music educator Janika Vandervelde is known for her music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, and the stage, with work notable for its feminist and ecological themes.
The son of an Englishwoman and a man from Sierra Leone, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor showed great musical talent from childhood, entering the Royal College of Music at fifteen alongside Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
American composer William Grant Still wrote nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, and more than thirty choral works.
Composer Abbie Betinis writes music called "inventive" by the New York Times, "incandescent" by the Boston Globe, and "ethereal" by Cambridge University Press.
Inspired by narrative, magical realism, speculative fiction, and "making better humans through art," the music of Minneapolis-based Timothy C. Takach is a mainstay in the concert world.
British Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga OBE studied at the Jamaica School of Music and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1970.
Born on the Yankton Reservation in South Dakota, Zitkála-Šá was forcibly sent to a Quaker boarding school at age eight, where she was punished for speaking her tribal language.
One of the first named composers in history, Hildegard began writing music in her forties to be sung by the nuns of her Benedictine monastery as part of the Divine Office.
Hailing from Alabama, Rosephanye Powell serves as the Charles W. Barkley Endowed Professor of Voice at Auburn University and has been hailed as one of America's premier women composers of choral music.
Hall Johnson was a highly regarded African American choral director, composer, arranger, and violinist who dedicated his career to preserving the integrity of the Black spiritual as it had been performed during the era of slavery.
Born in Reno, Nevada, Eric Whitacre had no formal music training before age 18 — he played synthesizer in a techno-pop band with dreams of rock stardom.
Undine Smith Moore (1904–1989) Hailed as the "Dean of Black Women Composers," Undine Smith Moore self-described as "a teacher who composes, not simply a composer who teaches."
B.E. Boykin (Brittney Elizabeth Boykin) is a composer, conductor, and educator whose choral work sits at the intersection of artistic craft and cultural advocacy.
composed prolifically for voices — a natural outgrowth of her role presiding over Berlin's celebrated Sonntagsmusiken, the weekly concert series she organized and conducted at the family home for nearly two decades.
GRAMMY-nominated composer Carlos Simon grew up in Atlanta steeped in gospel music and a long lineage of preachers — an influence that permeates his choral writing.
The music of David Evan Thomas is praised for its eloquence, lyricism, and craft — rooted in tradition yet expressed in a refreshing contemporary voice.
Stacey V. Gibbs is a prolific and highly sought-after composer-arranger and clinician, best known for arrangements of spirituals and highly acclaimed for his ability to infuse new energy into familiar works without sacrificing their authenticity or power.
Minnesota-based composer Katherine Bergman draws on literature, environmentalism, and found materials to create music that has been described as hypnotic and visceral.
Chinese-born American composer Chen Yi began violin and piano studies at age three, but the Cultural Revolution interrupted her musical progress in 1966.
Debussy's choral output is modest but distinctive. His three Chansons de Charles d'Orléans for unaccompanied choir are jewels of the a cappella repertoire
Grammy Award-winning American composer Stephen Paulus was best known for his operas and choral music, with a style that is essentially tonal, melodic, and romantic by nature
Margaret Bonds (1913–1972) Chicago-born composer, pianist, and activist, Margaret Bonds created over 200 works spanning orchestra, choir, solo voice, and theater.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) stands as the towering figure of Western choral music — a composer whose sacred output remains unmatched in both scale and depth.
Emmy Award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg has built one of the most distinctive choral catalogs in contemporary American music — rooted in nature, justice, and an unshakeable belief that music can change things.
Moira Smiley is an American singer, composer, and choral leader whose work draws on folk traditions, shape-note singing, early music, and the multi-part harmonies of Eastern Europe.
Growing up in Baltimore, Glass studied at the University of Chicago, Juilliard, and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, before working closely with Ravi Shankar.
Michiru Oshima is a prolific Japanese composer renowned for incorporating lush, dramatic choral arrangements into her soundtracks for anime, video games, and film.
