FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications (304) 696-7153
 

Pappas serving as chair of Marshall music department

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Dr. Jeffrey Pappas, an experienced administrator and choral musician, has been appointed chair of the Marshall University department of music beginning this semester, according to Donald Van Horn, dean of the university’s College of Fine Arts.

“We are very pleased to welcome a music educator of Dr. Pappas’ caliber to Marshall,” Van Horn said. “His leadership will be a valuable addition to the administration and teaching here.”

Prior to coming to Marshall, Pappas was Director of Choral Activities and Coordinator of Ensembles and Conducting at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., where he conducted the chamber choir, taught upper-level undergraduate conducting, master’s and doctoral level choral literature and conducting, and administered the choral area.  He has also served as the Director of Choral Activities at Mississippi State University and at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa and on the music faculty at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio.

He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Northern Kentucky University, a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the University of Illinois, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting and pedagogy from the University of Iowa. His conducting teachers have included William Hatcher, Don Moses, Chester Alwes and James Dixon.

His choirs have performed throughout the Midwest and in southern California, Colorado, Atlanta and New Orleans. Most recently, he conducted members of the Ball State Chamber and Concert Choirs in a concert tour of Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic, which included performances at the Stephansdom, St. Vitas Cathedral and Elte University. The chamber choir was an invited ensemble at the 2006 Indiana Music Educators Conference and at the Regional Music Educators Conference in Lincoln, Neb., in November 2006.

“My family and I have received a warm welcome from the Marshall and Huntington communities,” Pappas said. “I am looking forward to working with the outstanding music faculty and becoming a part of the musical life of this region.”

Pappas has been invited on three occasions to make presentations at the International Vocal Symposium in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He is frequently called on to be a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator at choral festivals, workshops and competitions.

He has also been active in the American Choral Directors Association, serving as repertoire and standards chair for 4-year colleges and universities in Iowa and Mississippi, membership chair and president-elect in Mississippi, repertoire and standards chair for music and worship in Indiana and the membership chair for the central division.

As a tenor soloist, his concert and/or opera performances have included Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Massenet’s Herodiade, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Stravinsky’s Les Noces.

He lives in Huntington, W.Va., with his wife, Joni, daughter, Amara, and son, Case.

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