Schola Cantorum of Texas, began its 45th anniversary season last October with a homecoming concert for the group’s former singers. It closed the season this week with a homecoming for its new Music Director and Conductor, Dr. Jerry McCoy, who sang with Schola during the 1972–1973 season.

Dr. McCoy has since established himself as a leading international figure in choral music. He is Director of Choral Studies and Professor of Music at The University of North Texas, the nation’s largest college of music. At UNT he conducts the renowned A Cappella Choir, the North Texas Chamber Choir and Grand Chorus, teaches graduate choral conducting and advanced choral techniques, and guides the choral studies program.

Active throughout the industry, Dr. McCoy also has a high profile outside his university post. He was founding artistic director and conductor of Texas Choral Artists, a professional chamber choir; he is editor of his own choral music series for Santa Barbara Publishers, and associate resident conductor for Mid-America Productions, of New York City. His fellow choral conductors elected him to lead their professional association, the American Choral Directors Association, which he serves as president-elect.

Dr. McCoy is one of the United States’ most respected choral directors and clinicians, having led all-state, regional and festival choruses in 33 states. He has served in similar capacities internationally, as guest clinician for the Association of British Choral Directors (Chester, England); Coro Dialecto Urbano (Caracas, Venezuela); in Sweden for Musik I Vasternorland, the University of Luleå Musikhögskolan, and the Luleå Kammerkor; and in Korea for Keim Yung University (Daegu) and the Korean Chorus Center (Seoul).

This summer Dr. McCoy will lead a select group of Texas high school singers in a salute to Beijing, China, as part of the pre-Olympic festivities in Beijing and Shanghai. The tour will include concerts, interaction with Chinese high school singers and the opportunity to create lasting bonds between the people of China and the United States.

This rich, diverse musical background enables Dr. McCoy to appreciate Schola Cantorum of Texas all the more. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to lead Schola Cantorum,” McCoy said. “This choir is an institution in North Texas and one of the premier amateur singing groups in the State of Texas.”

There is an element of paying back for McCoy, too. He credits his experience singing with Schola Cantorum in 1972 and 1973 with rejuvenating his music career. “I had gotten away from music for awhile in the early 70s,” McCoy explained. “Then (former Schola Cantorum director) Gary Ebensberger introduced me to this choir. I had such a fantastic experience with Schola that there was no doubt in my mind I must devote myself to a career in music.”

Dr. McCoy completed his undergraduate studies in choral music education at the University of Texas at Arlington, under Dr. Ebensberger. He holds advanced degrees in choral conducting from The University of Texas at Austin. He has studied in conductor exchange programs in Venezuela, Sweden, and Germany and has attended master classes with Frieder Bernius and Eric Ericson. His writings on choral music have been published in The Choral Journal, Common Times, and Sooner Style. In the 1990s he sang and recorded with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in New York and Southern France.

Susan Seiter, president of the Schola Cantorum board of directors, said Dr. McCoy was the most qualified and logical choice to become only the fourth conductor in the group’s 45-year history. “Jerry McCoy is a superb musician with a gift for teaching,” Seiter said. “He is at once a major international figure in choral music and a resident of Fort Worth dedicated to using his gifts and talents to enrich our community. We are already planning innovative ways to bring our music to bigger and more diverse audiences.”

Educational outreach is one of McCoy’s top priorities. He plans to use his experience working with high school and college students to involve more young people in Schola projects and performances. McCoy knows he won’t have to go far to find school choir directors to work with – about a third of Schola Cantorum’s members are choir directors themselves.

“Each of these singers brings to Schola Cantorum their own teaching experience and the experience of all the teachers they have worked with,” McCoy said. “That helps us as singers, and it means our collective outreach to young people is considerable. We plan to build on that to be an asset to even more choir directors and singers in the area. Supporting the community I live in has always been important to me, and I can’t think of a better way to do that than through great music.”

Schola Cantorum Auditions:

Schola Cantorum will hold auditions for the coming season in August. Dr. McCoy invites all interested singers to express their interest by calling the Schola Cantorum office at 817.927.2114, or by email message to info@scholatexas.com. The concert season opens October 12 at Ed Landreth Hall on the campus of Texas Christian University, Fort Worth. Details about auditions and the coming concert season will be posted soon to the Schola Cantorum Website..