Brian Stevens
ICCF
BIO
Brian is Director of Choirs at Nazareth College, in upstate New York, where he directs the Chamber Singers, and the Treble Choir.
He has also taught classes in applied conducting, choral conducting, choral literature, and choral methods. He is founder and artistic director for the upcoming 2021 debut season of Vox Eius, a regional premiere women’s chamber choir based in Western New York focusing on contemporary advanced repertoire for treble voices composed by living female composers.
Prior to his collegiate career, he spent more than a decade as a high school choir director in New York State. Brian is an active clinician and festival conductor, and has a passion for teaching, scholarship, and establishing vibrant choral communities.
He has worked with international ensembles such as S:t Jacob’s Chamber Choir and S:t Jacob’s Vocal Ensemble in Sweden, Shandong Normal University in China, Adelisia Women’s Choir and Voces Borealis in Canada, and the Kammerchor of the Hochschule für Muzik in Mannheim, Germany. Brian has conducted on international choir tours to England, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Poland. Brian has a deep commitment to contemporary choral music.
He is a frequent commissioner and enjoys exploring new works by emerging composers with his ensembles.
He is keenly interested in championing compositions by contemporary female choral composers around the world and is actively contributing to enlarging the professional resources available to support their work.
His research areas include Scandinavian choral music, contemporary female choral composers, advanced repertoire for female choirs, developing progressive and diverse choral programming, the music of Swedish composer Fredrik Sixten, and the choral repertoire of the late Armenian American composer Alan Hovhaness.
Brian’s education includes graduate and doctoral studies in choral conducting and choral music education at the University of Connecticut, Houghton College, and the University of Buffalo. Additionally, he holds degrees in music theory and composition from SUNY Geneseo. As a performer, he is a committed choral singer in several ensembles and is also a jazz pianist.
