Alice Parker

Alice Parker is an internationally renowned composer, conductor and teacher. She studied composition and conducting at Smith College and the Juilliard School where she began her long association with Robert Shaw.  The many Parker/Shaw settings of American folksongs, hymns and spirituals from that period form an enduring repertoire for choruses all around the world.

Her list of published compositions has over five hundred titles, ranging from operas through song cycles, cantatas and choral suites to many individual anthems. She has been commissioned by hundreds of community, school and church choruses, and her works appear in the catalogs of a dozen publishing companies. Each year she tours the United States and Canada, leading performances and workshops on improvisation, rehearsal techniques and score study. To take part in one of her SINGS is to have a rare experience of group improvisation, remarkable for its high level of musical sound.