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Thomas R. Vozzella
Dr. Thomas R. Vozzella has served as a Music Ministry Director/Organist in Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana since the age of fifteen. He has taught at institutions of higher education in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and Kansas. Choirs under his direction have received superior ratings and have been invited to perform under his direction for the Kansas Music Educators Association, the Texas Choral Directors Association, at Carnegie Hall, and the Tennessee Choral Directors Association. Thomas has concertized extensively throughout the U.S. and the following countries: Italy, Austria, Germany, France, England, Netherlands (Holland), Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Spain.
During his tenure at First United Methodist Church, El Dorado, Arkansas, the adult and youth choirs were heard on NPR's Performance Today. Additionally, he has performed on the BBC, on NBC for the national broadcast service celebrating the release of American hostages in Iran (1981), for Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the infamous Ted "Teddy" Kennedy. He has had the honor of having bass Edward Pleasant, mezzo-sopranos Susan Grahamand Luretta Bybee visit his rehearsals and sing with his choirs. He has also conducted performances at The White House by invitation of President and Mrs. George W. Bush. Additionally he conducted a mass choir, joined by Lee Greenwood and The Gatlin Brothers in The National Anthem at the Bush Homecoming Celebration in Midland, Texas, January 2009.
He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, the Master of music degree from Northeast Louisiana University (University of Louisiana, Monroe), and the Bachelor of Music degree from Eastern Nazarene College. Additional work was completed at Nazarene Theological Seminary, The University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory of Music and the Royal School of Church Music, Croydon, England.
He is also an active member in the American Choral Director's Association (ACDA), American Guild of Organists (AGO), Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, Association of Anglican Musicians (AAM), National Association for Music Education (MENC), and The American Society for Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He has also served as a Choral Mentor for MENC, and has served as a choral judge/clinician in Massachusetts, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.
His compositions are published by Alliance, Augsburg, Abingdon, Selah and CanticaNOVA music publishers. Currently he is working on a choral orchestral suite of the music from The Prince of Egypt with composer Stephen Schwartz. In 2009 Dr. Vozzella received an ASCAPPLUS Award for his composition.
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