About the Choral Headliner
Dr. Brandon Boyd is the Mary M. and Harry L. Smith Endowed Chair, Director of Choral Activities, and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Missouri, where he leads the University Singers, Sankofa Chorale, and Choral Union Symphonic Chorus. He also directs the Graduate Choral Conducting Program and teaches courses in conducting, choral literature, and arranging.
An advocate for choral music’s power to build community, Dr. Boyd’s research explores the music of the Black experience—particularly Gospel and Spirituals—as well as choirs for underserved populations, including those experiencing homelessness and incarceration. He is also interested in the therapeutic and social benefits of group singing. In Florida, he co-directed several community-based choral partnerships, including a women’s prison glee club, a senior choir, and a middle school-university collaboration.
As a composer and editor, his music is widely performed and published by Gentry, Hinshaw, MorningStar, GIA, and Kjos. He curates the Brandon A. Boyd Choral Series with Hinshaw Music and serves as Executive Choral Editor for Gentry Publications.
Internationally, he has collaborated with the London Symphony and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and has conducted at Carnegie Hall. He has also served as composer-in-residence with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.
Dr. Boyd holds degrees from Florida State University and Tennessee State University and is an active member of ACDA, NAfME, NANM, AGO, and Chorus America.
