Thomas R. Vozzella

Thomas R. Vozzella (b. July 5, 1963) is an American composer, organist, and conductor. He began studying piano and organ at the age of fifteen. At the age of sixteen he was performing professionally as an organist in Boston, Quincy, Weymouth, and Norwell, Massachusetts. Graduating from Quincy High School (1982), he went on to study music at Eastern Nazarene College. His primary teacher was Professor Lambert Brandes, with whom he studied organ. After graduation he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and married Cathy Louise Knight (1989).
Education
He received a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Nazarene College (1986), Master of Music degree from Northeast Louisiana University, Monroe, Louisiana (1996), and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina(2003). Additional work was completed at Nazarene Theological Seminary(1986-88), and The University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music (1990-93). In 1985 he was in a summer residency at the Royal School of Church Music, Croydon, England, where he studied organ and choral conducting.

Performance Summary
He has appeared as a conductor/organ recitalist in the United States, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine and England. He has taught at institutions of higher education in Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and Kansas. In addition to his teaching positions, he has served as a Music Director/Organist in Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas since the age of sixteen. Choirs under his direction have received superior ratings and have received invitations and/or performed in Taiwan, Italy, China, Germany, Ukraine, Bulgaria, for the Kansas Music Educators Association, Texas Choral Directors Association and on programs of the American Choral Directors Association.
During his tenure at First United Methodist Church, El Dorado, Arkansas, the adult and youth choirs were heard on NPR’s Performance Today. He has also 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 Senator Ted Kennedy. He has performed with mezzo-sopranos Susan Graham, and Luretta Bybee. He has also conducted performances at The White House by invitation of President George W.Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush. Additionally he conducted a mass choir, joined by Lee Greenwood and The Gatlin Brothers in The Star Spangled Banner at the Bush Homecoming Celebration in Midland, Texas, January 20, 2009. He has also served as a choral judge/clinician in Massachusetts, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.
Professional Memberships
He is also an active member in the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Texas Choral Directors Association (TCDA), 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), Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
Published compositions
Echo Noel (Angel Hosts in Bright Array)
Louis-Claude Daquin, arranged by Thomas R. Vozzella
SATB a capella
Alliance Music Publications 0686
Psallite (Sing, Rejoice)
Michael Praetorius, arranged by Thomas R. Vozzella
Latin & German / Latin & English
SATB a capella
CanticaNOVA Publications 7079
Tebe Poem (We Praise Thee)
Dobri Hristov, edited by Thomas R. Vozzella
Church Slavonic/English adapted by Thomas R. Vozzella
SATB a capella
Selah Catalog 410-648
Psallite (Sing, Rejoice)
Michael Praetorius, arranged by Thomas R. Vozzella
English
SAB a capella
Abingdon Press ISBN-10: 0687064317
Abingdon Press ISBN-13: 9780687064311
Havlite (Praise the Lord)
Dobri Hristov, edited by Thomas R. Vozzella
Church Slavonic/English adapted by Thomas R. Vozzella
SATB a capella
Augsburg Fortress 9780800676308
Scholarly Articles and Reviews
Article, Thomas Vozzella, T. S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral: The Dramatic Music, Choral Journal, April 2004.
Contributor, Listen 5th edition: Digitized Scores, (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's), 2004.
Review, James Jordan, The Musician’s Spirit: Connecting to Others through Story (Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2002), Choral Journal, April 2004
Review, Hubert Bird, Standin’ in the Need of Prayer; Earthsongs, Legends of St. Nicholas; Salamone Rossi, Ó dekha; Choral Journal, September 2003.
Review, Malcolm Archer, Judge Eternal Throned in Splendor; Richard Wayne Dirksen, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis; Hal Hopson, People, Look East; and C. V. Stanford, Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem; Choral Journal, December 2002.
Review, Harold Farberman, The Art of Conducting Technique (Miami, FL: Warner Brothers Publications, 1997), Choral Journal, September 2002.
Grants awarded
Dollye Neal Foundation Grant, Fall 2006 ($1,033,000)
Establish Music and Arts Academy (First United Methodist Church, Midland, Texas)
U. S. Department of Education Title III Grant, Spring 2005 ($36,000)
Music Education Technology Upgrades (Sterling College, Sterling, Kansas)
Research Grant, Fall 2003 ($1,000)
Project: English Choral Editions of Dobri Hristov’s Bulgarian Folk Music.
(The University of West Alabama, Livingston, Alabama)

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