CMASC 2027 Clinicians

New Orleans native Coty Raven Morris is a proud alumnus of Texas State University-San Marcos where she studied with Drs. Lynn Brinckmeyer and Joey Martin. She received her Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University in the Spring of 2020 under Drs. David Rayl, Jonathan Reed, and Sandra Snow.

She is currently the Hinckley Assistant Professor of Choir, Music Education, and Social Justice at Portland State University. Prior to this, she was the Director of Choirs at Crosby High School in the Houston area and has served as the Outreach Choir Director at the MSU Community Music School and Music Director at Grand Ledge United Methodist Church. Her choirs received consistent Sweepstakes & Division I ratings at UIL and choral festivals.

Morris was the recipient of the Hays CISD Linebarger Academic Recognition Award for 2013 & Galena Park ISD’s Dazzling Diamond Award in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018 for outstanding mentorship and leadership in her field. She serves on committees and holds leadership roles within both the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). Her most recent acknowledgments include being a three time Music Educator Grammy nominee, a 2024 and 2025 Music Educator Grammy Finalist and being named one of Yamaha's '40 Under 40' music educators. 

Morris is a sought-after clinician and speaker across the country. Her reach has extended through her partnership with Music Workshop, where she helped develop a national professional development curriculum for music educators focused on wellness, equity, and accessible classroom practices. She was recently a featured conductor of the Texas Music Educators conference, NW ACDA, and Southern ACDA. Her Choral series with Carl Fischer publishing, Ravensong, features works composed using her poetry. Morris has been a choir member of the South Texas Vocal Artists and Mirabai and has devoted over a decade of summers to working as a camp director at the Texas State, Northeastern, Lamar University, Oregon Repertory Singers, and Blue Lake Fine Arts summer camps.

Morris is also a host at All Classical Radio and the International Children’s Arts Network (ICAN), a radio station dedicated to celebrating the joy of childhood, exploring diverse cultures, and enhancing children’s learning by providing access to the arts and fostering a love for music and literature. She  serves as a Chorus Master and Artistic Collaborator with Portland Center Stage, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and Choirs of America. A newly published author and composer, her poetry and compositions have been performed at a multitude of honor choirs and festivals across the country.

Coty Raven Morris is the Founder of Being Human Together, a budding community rooted in music education striving to normalize difficult topics in our field through conversation and connection. BHT seeks to discuss traditionally taboo topics like mental health, systemic oppression, diversity, and inclusivity. And… she is also an avid boxer!

An active conductor, music educator, and choral scholar, Dr. Elizabeth Fisher serves as theArtistic Director of Young Voices of Colorado, working with youth in grades K-12 from theDenver metro area. In addition to this position, she is also the Artistic Director of Sage Singers, a chorus for LGBTQ+ elders. Previously, she has held positions in choral conducting and music education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Dr. Fisher’s scholarship focuses on restoring manuscripts of music composed for the women of the Venetian Ospedali as well as choral music’s engagement with social justice issues. An active clinician, Fisher has worked with choirs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Michigan, and in Kenya.

As a mezzo-soprano, Dr. Fisher currently performs with mirabai, a professional women’s chorus performing throughout the United States. As a choral singer, she has performed under the direction of Alan Gilbert, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Solonen, and Simon Rattle. She has also performed in opera productions at the Spoleto Festival from 2011-2013 and in the American premiere of Hosokawa’s Noh-opera “Matsukaze” in the 2013 Lincoln Center Festival in New York City.

Dr. Fisher holds degrees from Millikin University, Westminster Choir College, and Michigan State University.

Stuart Chapman Hill, Ph.D., is a conductor, composer, teacher, and scholar who serves as Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at Michigan State University. At MSU, he teaches courses in music education foundations, choral methods, and music education philosophy, and conducts Singing Spartans, the tenor-bass glee club. 

Previously, Hill served for eight years as Director of Music Education and Associate Professor of Music at Webster University in St. Louis, MO, where he taught courses in music education and songwriting and conducted the treble-voice choir Aurelia. In 2022, he won Webster’s William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching. He also served for seven years as Artistic Director of CHARIS, the St. Louis Women’s Chorus, an ensemble devoted to celebrating and encouraging women and the LGBTQIA+ community. His previous teaching experience includes working with high school singers at the prestigious Governor’s School of North Carolina and teaching middle school chorus in Greensboro, NC.

As a scholar, Hill studies and writes about musicianship and creativity. Recent projects focus on the musicianship and learning practices of professional songwriters in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a co-author, along with Dr. Jill Reese and Dr. Krystal McCoy, of Q&A for MLT: Choral Music Perspectives on Music Learning Theory, which was released in 2023 by GIA. His peer-reviewed articles appear in the Music Educators Journal, Journal of Research in Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, the Journal of Music, Technology, & Education, the Philosophy of Music Education Review, Choral Journal, and the Journal of Music Teacher Education. 

Hill is a choral composer and arranger whose works are published with Hinshaw, G. Schirmer, Galaxy Music, and Gentry Publications. He has been commissioned by school and church choral groups around the United States and is especially passionate about creating high-quality choral works for performance by middle school ensembles. 

Hill earned his Ph.D. at Michigan State University, where he studied music education and choral conducting. His undergraduate and master’s degrees are from Vanderbilt University.