Dennis Shrock has been appointed interim director of choral activities in the School of Music. Labeled "indisputably one of the very top choral scholars in the United States," he is currently Visiting Professor of Music at Boston University, a member of the conducting staff at Yale University, and editor of The Choral Scholar – the online journal of the National Collegiate Choral Organization.

 

Past positions include director of choral activities and graduate choral studies at the University of Oklahoma (1978–2006), artistic director of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale (1999–2004), artistic director of Canterbury Choral Society (1981–1999), assistant conductor of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic (1990–1998), editor of the Choral Journal (1989–1992), and Head of Undergraduate Conducting at Westminster Choir College (1973–1978). In addition, he has conducted numerous festival choirs, including state conference and all-state ensembles in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Delaware, Virginia and Arizona. He has also conducted in Carnegie Hall and been featured on National Public Radio.

 

Dr. Shrock received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Westminster Choir College and both master’s and doctoral degrees in choral conducting from Indiana University. While a student at Indiana, he founded the Bloomington Chamber Ensemble and was the first conductor of the university’s newly formed Studio Opera Program. Both are still in existence today. While on the faculty of Westminster Choir College, he prepared choirs for the New Jersey Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.