Dr. Derrick Fox

is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Creative  Endeavors and a Professor of Choral Conducting at Michigan State  University. Prior to MSU, he was the Director of Choral Activities and  Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha  and Assistant Professor of Choral Music at Ithaca College. Dr. Fox has  taught at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels. His  conducting experiences have included singers from upper elementary  choirs through collegiate and community choirs. He was awarded the  2021 Bryan R. Johnson Service Award by the Nebraska Music Educators  Association and the 2022 University of Nebraska Omaha Award for  Distinguished Research/Creative Activity.

Dr. Fox has conducted all state and regional choirs across the United  States, led international, national and regional choral concerts/ residencies and presented professional development workshops across  the United States and internationally. His professional workshops focus  on assessment in the choral classroom, building classroom community,  rehearsal strategies, choral conducting techniques and shape note singing  in the African American community. Dr. Fox has held teaching  residencies at the Latvian Academy of Music and Syracuse University  and led performance tours through Lithuania and Estonia. Dr. Fox  conducted the 2019 National ACDA Middle School/Junior High Mixed  Honor Choir and traveled to South Africa as a 2019 ACDA International  Conductor Exchange Fellow where he led choral workshops and  rehearsals in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Potchefstroom.  

As a baritone soloist, Dr. Fox has collaborated with various  organizations; among them are the Arkansas Symphony, Lansing  Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Columbia Chorale, the University of  Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha Symphonic Chorus, University of Missouri,  Michigan State University, Webster University and the Espaço Cultural  (Brasilia, Brazil). He can be heard singing selections from Gershwin’s  Porgy and Bess on the compact disc In This Hid Clearing, available on  the Naxos Classical Music label. 

As an author, Dr. Fox has written articles for many organizations and  was a contributing author in the Hal Leonard/McGraw Hill choral  textbook Voices in Concert. His compositions and arrangements are  published by Hal Leonard and Brilee Music. His book, Yes You Can: A  Band Director’s Guide to Teaching Choirs is published by Carl Fischer.  He launched The Derrick Fox Choral Series with Music Spoke to  publish works by and about marginalized and minoritized people. He  also partnered with the Country Music Association Foundation to create  the Unified Voices for Music Education Initiative which provides  learning activities for instrumental and elementary music educators. He  is the writer and host of the radio show Reflections of Us, a show  focused on amplifying diverse voice in classical music.  

Dr. Fox serves on the advisory board for Sounding Spirit, a research lab  and publishing initiative of Emory University’s Center for Digital  Scholarship, which promotes collaborative engagement with the  songbooks that sound America’s musical landscape. 

https:// www.drderrickfox.com/ 

Dr. Julie Yu

is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies  at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University and the  Artistic Director of Canterbury Voices, Oklahoma’s premier symphony chorus. 

She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of  Central Oklahoma, Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Oklahoma  State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting  from the University of North Texas. Before joining OCU and Canterbury Voices,  she taught at Norman North High School in Oklahoma, San José State  University, and Kansas State University. 

She has given presentations, conducted, and/or her choirs have performed for  state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association,  National Association for Music Education, and the European Music Educators  Association. She is the past president of the Southwestern Region of the  American Choral Directors Association and served as an International  Conducting Exchange Fellow to Kenya in 2019.  

Her favorite area of research and performance is working as a guest clinician/ conductor for various honor choirs and professional organizations.

Dr. Kelly Miller

is an Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Music Education at the University of Central Florida where she conducts the SoAl (Soprano/Alto) Chorus, SoAl Ensemble, TeBa (Tenor/Bass) Chorus, and the UCF Community Choir. While at UCF, she has taught introduction to music education, secondary choral methods I and II, music learning theory and assessment, beginning conducting, choral conducting, music and students with exceptionalities, and graduate classes in music education, while coordinating and supervising student teachers through their junior and senior clinical internships. 

Prior to her appointment at UCF, Miller taught at Western Illinois University as Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education, where she conducted the Concert Choir and Vocal Jazz Ensemble. She conducted the Women’s Glee Club at Michigan State University for three years and taught choral music at the high school level for thirteen years in Michigan, Florida, and Nebraska. While in Orlando, Dr. Miller founded the choral/vocal program at Timber Creek High School, served as District 8 Chair for the Florida Vocal Association, and received her National Board Certification in secondary choral music. Before directing choirs, Miller was a concert band director for grades five through twelve, instructing marching and jazz bands, music theory, and elementary general music in Nebraska.  

In addition to her choral directing and teaching, she has maintained a private voice studio and is in demand to lead choral workshops on the choral/instrumental director as voice teacher, assessment, choosing choral repertoire and running effective rehearsals, leadership, creating artistry, student and teacher resiliency, student ownership, communication, and team building. Dr. Miller frequently serves as a clinician and festival adjudicator. She has been invited to conduct regional and state honor choirs and present conference sessions in Portugal, Ireland, North Carolina, Hawaii, Virginia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Florida, and Michigan. Dr. Miller has performed at state, divisional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and at the Nebraska Music Educators Association Convention. The Florida American Choral Director Association awarded her the Wayne Hugoboom Distinguished Service Award for Dedicated Service, Leadership, and Consistent Examples of Excellence in Choral Music in Florida, the highest award given to a choral director in the state of Florida, and the Florida Music Educator Association named her the 2022 Collegiate Music Educator of the Year. She is a Past-President of the Florida American Choral Directors Association, and she is a currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Florida Music Director and a member of the professional women’s ensemble, mirabai.

Miller holds the D.M.A. degree in choral conducting from Michigan State University, the M.M. degree in music education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the B.A. degree in music education from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Dr. Matthew Bester

is Director of Music at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in  Columbus, where he leads choirs of both adults and children. He is the Artistic  Director of Fior Angelico, a Columbus-based early music chorus that he founded  in 2006. He sings regularly with the all-professional LancasterChorale, for which  he also serves as Associate Conductor. He is the Vice President of the Board of  Trustees of The Friends of Early Music in Columbus, which oversees the Early  Music in Columbus concert series. He holds a PhD and an MA in Musicology  from The Ohio State University as well as a Graduate Certificate as a Specialist  in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Ohio State’s Center for Medieval and  Renaissance Studies. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in Music  from Harvard University. In 2023, he was Visiting Assistant Professor in Music at  Denison University. Over the years, he also has taught numerous graduate and  undergraduate courses as an adjunct faculty member at The Ohio State  University.