Thomas Lloyd

Associate Professor of Music
Director of Choral and Vocal Studies

link to composition page

links to video channels
(instructional videos and concert previews):

- buckschoraltlloyd

- tlloydvideos

Associate Professor of Music
Director of the Choral and Vocal Studies Program for Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges since July 1996

responsibilities include:
- Haverford/Bryn Mawr Chorale (120-voice oratorio society)
- Haverford/Bryn Mawr Chamber Singers (30-voice touring concert choir)
- coordinating the applied voice program
- teaching conducting, art song literature, and music history

Artistic Director, Bucks County Choral Society, Doylestown, PA beginning May 2000

Director of Music, Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, Philadelphia, PA, beginning October 2010.

Education:

University of Illinois, Doctor of Musical Arts (choral conducting and literature), 1994
Yale School of Music, Master of Music (voice), 1979
Yale Divinity School, Master of Arts in Religion, 1978
Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Bachelor of Music (bassoon), 1974

Scholarship and publications:

extended letter on the legacy of African-American congregations and the Spiritual in Episcopal liturgy in response to the 2012 Association of Anglican Musicians national conference in Philadelphia, in the Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, Vol. 21, Number 10, December 2012.

extended interview on Crossover with Jill Pasternak: Rachmaninoff, Bonhoeffer, and the 40th anniversary season of the Bucks County Choral Society; WRTI-FM, 90.1 Philadelphia (NPR Classical/Jazz), October 20, 2012.

Panel discussion leader: Yale International Choral Festival Symposium “Choirs Transforming our World” (June 2012).

Article: “Bringing Transformative Collaborations to Life” (relating primarily to tour collaborations with international choirs), Troubador (Newsletter of the ACDA Eastern Division, April 2011) and ChorTeach (Summer 2011).

Guest lecturer: Yale University School of Music graduate conducting seminar – leading a discussion of
performance practice issues in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, April 2011.

Subject of special column: Annette John-Hall, “Amen for Racial Harmony,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 8, 2010.

ACDA Panel Discussion convener: Do you hear what I hear? - R&S chairs present what they hear as 'quality' in their genres" - Eastern Division Conference, Philadelphia, February 2010.

ACDA first Community Choir Festival: originator, Coordinator, Convener - Eastern Division Conference, Philadelphia, February 2010.

"The Vocal Chamber Music of Hans Gal," The American Choral Review (in preparation for March 2010).

CD review: "Innovative new American sacred works: David lang, the little match girl passion, Phil Kline, John the Revelator; Kile Smith, Vespers; for the February 2010 Choral Journal.

"My Encounter with Estill Voice Training," in Troubadour - the online journal of the ACDA Eastern Division, December 2009, pp. 14-17.

ACDA Eastern Region Urban Initiative Concert at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, on November 21, 2009. Directed the Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr in a program shared with the Penn State University Essence of Joy choir (Tony Leach, Director), the St. Thomas Chancel Choir (Jay Fluellen, Director), the Bright Hope Baptist Church Celestial Singers (Donald Dumpson, Director), and the Clayton White Singers (Clayton White, Director), including a performance of a new arrangement by Lloyd entitled Camp Meeting with choreography by Bryn Mawr Senior Lecturer in Dance Madeline Cantor.

Panel convenor and facilitator: Unique Challenges and Opportunities: Choral Programs in Liberal Arts Colleges; at the national convention of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, November 6, 2009, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Article: "The revival of a crossover masterwork - Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts," the Choral Journal,
May 2009.

Report on the IFCM 8th World Symposium, in the October 2008 issue of Troubador, the Newsletter of the ACDA Eastern Division.

ACDA Interest Session presenter, with the Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges,
2008 Eastern Division Convention: Being true to the music and true to yourself: singing a
variety of music with authenticity without pretending to sound like a different of choir.

Invited oral presentation: The origins of the African-American Spiritual, paper to be presented at symposium From Slavery to Freedom: The Formation of African American and American Identity, October 26, 2007 at Haverford College.

Singing for Seniors – an interview with Helen Kemp, in the Fall 2007 issue of The Voice of Chorus America (national organization of independent choruses) related to new program initiated by me with the Bucks County Choral Society.

Extended letter to the Editor on Brahms and religion, Choral Journal, August 2007.

 ACDA Panel discussion leader: "Approaches to Teaching Sacred Music in Secular Contexts" at Eastern Convention, February 16, 2006, New York City; published in the March 2007 issue of the Choral Journal.

Article: "New-found hope in the unifying language of music – Teaching Sacred Music in a Secular Setting," in Constellation, the online journal of the Center for Progressive Christianity, Spring 2005; revised and republished in the March 2007 issue of the Choral Journal.

Recording: Voices in Exile - The Choral Music of Jean Berger and Hans Gal, with the Chamber Choir of the Bucks County Choral Society, distributed nationally by Classiquest, September 2005. - Emotionally, they're right on target, plumbing the spiritual depths of songs like Berger's "Eyes of All" and Gal's "To Sleep" with all the intensity one could wish for. - American Record Guide

Article: "Shout all over God’s heaven – The survival of the Spiritual through dramatically chang-
ing social and musical contexts,” published in the Choral Journal August 2004.

Recording: The Wishing Tree – The Choral Music of Robert Maggio– released by Albany
Records, Spring 2004; with the Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges
and the Bucks County Choral Society.

Article: “Alternative Images for Helping Singers Connect to Their Breath Support in Warmups:
"Drawing-in the Tone" and "Breathless Breaths,"” Choral Journal 43:9 April 2003.

Extended Letter to the Editor on choice of repertoire following 9/11, Choral Journal 43:2
September 2002.

Article: "When the Orchestra Arrives," in the Choral Journal, December 1999.

Article: "Am I being followed? - Finding the Elusive Connection between Conductor and Ensemble,"  published in the Choral Journal, February 1996; revised and reprinted in the Journal of the Conductor's GuildWinter/Spring 1998. 
  
Dissertation: "A Comparative Analysis of 18 Settings of Petrarch's Tutto 'l dì piango; e poi la notte, quando, University of Illinois, 1994.

Compositions (for complete links to scores and recordings, click here):

Bonhoeffer, concert-length choral-theater work for men's chamber choir, solo trio (SSA), two dancers, and four players (violin, cello, piano/organ, vibraphone/tom-toms); first performance by The Crossing, Donald Nally conducting, and dancers Tim Early and Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch scheduled for Sunday, March 10, 2013 at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral.

Ben Unleashed, for five soloists (SSATB) and piano; commissioned by Lyric Fest of Philadelphia and first performed at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia, October 14, 2012.

Fatherly Reflections (Karl Kirchwey) for solo voice and piano; commissioned by Lyric Fest of Philadelphia and first performed by Richard Troxell, tenor and Laura Ward, piano, First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, November 21, 2010.

Fellowship of Miracles (Henri Nouwen) for SATB choir and organ; commissioned for the installation of Rev. Judith Sullivan as fourth Dean of the Philadelphia Cathedral, on October 17, 2010, performed by the Church of the Redeemer Choir, Michael Diorio, director.

Camp Meeting ("Down in the River to Pray"/"Shout all over God's Heaven") - for SSATTBB choir; first performed at the ACDA Eastern Region Urban Initiative Concert at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, on November 21, 2009.

Pied Beauty for SATB choir, text by Gerard Manley Hopkins; first performed October 4, 2008 at the inauguration of Jane McAuliffe as President of Bryn Mawr College.

Sojourn for SATB choir and four violins, text by Albert Einstein from The World as I see it;
first performed October 6, 2007 at the inauguration of Stephen Emerson as President of Haverford College.

Jubilant Intimations, for SATB choir and organ; composed for the 2007 Eastern European tour of the Bucks County Choral Society; premiered June 3, 2007 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lansdale, PA, with Eric Plutz, organ.

Stan’ Still Jordan – Egbe Nukopowo – arrangement of an African-American spiritual juxtaposed with a traditional Ewe melody from Ghana, for SATB choir and traditional percussion. First performed by the Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges in Fall 2006 as part of their Ghana tour program; also performed by the PMEA District 12 High School Festival Choir in January 2007; scheduled for publication in 2008 by Alliance Music Publishers.

traditional, arr. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Scarborough Fair / Canticle, arranged for SATB and guitars (with permission); first performed by the Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr, May 2006.

Lee S. Roberts, Smiles, arranged for SAB senior choir, for the first annual Singing for Seniors Choir Festival, of the Bucks County Choral Society, April 20, 2006.

The spirit moves in marvelous ways - Ode to Ellington, for SATB choir and jazz quartet; first performances with the Chamber Choir of the Bucks County Choral Society and the Eric Mintel Quartet on October 29 and 30, 2005 at
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Doylestown, PA.

The World is Too Much with Us, (Wordsworth) for SATB choir, horn, and piano; commissioned by Unionville (PA) High School, Jason Throne, director and first performed there May 2005.

Of the Father's Love Begotten / I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, for SATB choir, harp, string quintet; first performances with the Bucks County Choral Society, December 2004, Yardley and Doylestown, PA.

Henri Busser, Le Sommeil de l'Enfant Jesus, for solo voice, harp, violin: solo part re-arranged for SATB choir; first performances with the Bucks County Choral Society, December 2004, Yardley and Doylestown, PA.

Leaves of Grass / Ode to America, (Whitman) for SSAATTBB choir unaccompanied; first performances by the Bucks County Choral Society June 2004, in Doylestown, PA, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Tallinn, Estonia.

Immensity Cloistered in Thy Dear Womb (Donne) for SSAATTBB choir and brass quintet; first performed by the Bucks County Choral Society, December 2003 in Doylestown, PA.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel processional arrangement for SATB choir unaccompanied; first performed by the Bucks County Choral Society, December 2001 in Doylestown, PA; performed by the Philadelphia Singers, David Hayes, director, December 2004 in Philadelphia, PA.

Chamber Singers Touring Program

Highlights of some of the major tours in recent years are listed below.  Click here for full narrative accounts of each of the tours.

  • 2010: Turkey – concerts in Ankara, Eskiseher, Istanbul, shared with the university choirs of Middle East Technical University, Anadolu University, and Bogazici University.
  • 2007: Ghana – trip to Ghana involving several faculty (from Music, Biology, History, and Religion), one dean, one program director (OMA) and 35 bi-college students (27 in Chamber Singers and 8 others (in biology and Africana Studies)) after a semester of directed study in the history of the Atlantic slave trade, the cultural integration of African music in Africa and the African diaspora, and politics of modern Africa.  Activities (readings, written assignments, and public presentations) spanned two semesters; funding support obtained from nine different sources at both colleges; activities in Ghana included three collaborative concerts with 5 local choirs, radio interviews and national television coverage, audience with regional chiefs and the US Ambassador, as well as numerous informal and spontaneous performances at village schools, hospitals, and plantations.
  • 2006: Puerto Rico – collaborative concerts in San Juan and Ponce with Coro Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, Angel Mattos, Director and the Coro Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico Rubén Colón-Tarrats, Director; local coordination through student singer Tommy Bryan HC ’07, his family in Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rican alumni.
  • 2005: Poland – concerts in Poznan and Warsaw, including a  major collaborative concert at Philharmonic Hall in Poznan with the Adam Mickiewicz University Academic Choir directed by Jacek Sykulski; (this choir just made a return visit to Haverford in November 2007);  Asst. Prof. Suava Salameh of the sociology department made local arrangements and co-led the trip.  She arranged for numerous visits and discussions with government officials, academic leaders, and students about political and cultural issues in the post-Soviet era.
  • 2003: Costa Rica –concerts in San Jose, St. Helena, and Arenal, including two concerts in collaboration with the Choir of the Municipal Youth Symphony of Cartago and the Chamber Choir of Alajuelita, both choirs conducted by Patricia Valverde.
  • 2002: Nashville, TN, shared concert with the Fisk Jubilee Singers directed by Paul Kwami, including campus tours, student discussions; return visit by the Fisk Jubilee Singers to Haverford in March 2005.
  • November 2001: Haverford, shared concert with the Howard University Choir, J. Weldon Norris, Director.
  • 1998: Venezuela - concerts in Caracas shared with the Orféon Universitario Simón Bolívar under the direction of Maria Guinand and Alberto Grau.

Also, tours to Brazil, Russia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Romania with the Bucks County Choral Society.

Professional Panels:

- American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Eastern Region Board of Directors – Repertoire and Standards Chair for Community Choirs (2008-2010)

- Lyric Fest, Philadelphia (professional song recital series) – Board of Directors (2008-2011 term)

- International Federation of Choral Musicians (IFCM) - Conductors without Borders program: co-chair, pilot mentorship program in Ghana

Major grants and awards:

Leadership Philadelphia (Knight Foundation/WHYY) – selected as a “Creative Connector” – one of seventy-six arts leaders in theater, music, dance, and fine arts (the only choral musician honored) from over 3,000 nominations received

Philadelphia Music Project - $30,000 grant to the Bucks County Choral Society for a 30th anniversary commission project (BCCS only first-time winner in 2002): Rachel and her Children – Small Hands, Relinquish All; music by Robert Maggio; libretto compiled by Thomas Lloyd.

First Prize Winner: Graduate Division, 1993 Student Conducting Awards, American Choral Directors Association National Convention, San Antonio, Texas.

Previous positions:

Abington (PA) Symphony Orchestra: Interim Director, 1998-1999

Hamilton College (Clinton, NY) 7/94 to 7/96: Acting Director of Choirs and Orchestra and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music     

Assistant Conductor: Illinois Opera Theater, 1993-1994 season, including conducting performances of Hansel and Gretel and The Aspern Papers (Argento)

Assistant Conductor: University of Illinois Graduate Chorale, Oratorio  Society 1992-1994 and Director, Madrigal Singers, 1992

Founding Music Director: The Cornerstone Chorale and Chamber Orchestra of New York City (1990-1991)

Vice President, Information Systems, Prudential Securities, NY, NY (1983-1991)

Teaching Music at Haverford and Bryn Mawr

The bi-college community is a very special environment for music making.  For an academic community of this size, the number of students involved in singing in such a wide variety of faculty-led and independent ensembles is truly remarkable. While each of these different groups has its own distinct identity and purpose, they share in common a love forgetting together with other people to sing, play, and listen. This combination of unity and diversity is most visible in our annual combined concerts at Family Weekend at Haverford and Parents' Day Bryn Mawr.  This musical atmosphere, going back almost sixty years under the leadership of such teachers as Alfred Swan, John Davison, and   William Reese has even inspired a number of local alums to continue as members of the Chorale -  one recently said "most of what I did in college I have either forgotten or can recall only with some specific effort ...much of the music I learned or performed then lies just below the surface of conscious recollection, and it has an extraordinary power to recall itself."

It has been rewarding working with the students with the variety of music interests and aspirations who come to Haverford and Bryn Mawr, from students approaching music making for the first time to those who could be in a conservatory if they chose, but prefer to get a more rounded education while continuing their music making at a high level.  I have especially enjoyed collaborations with Heidi Jacob and the orchestral program in making it possible for the Chorale to perform major works with orchestra not just on rare occasions, but every semester.  This collaboration has brought about an opportunity for our leading instrumentalists to play alongside students from the Curtis Institute and Temple's Esther Boyer College of Music who are brought in for these performances. 
  
Haverford and Bryn Mawr are also great places to come for students interested in seriously pursuing solo singing or conducting.  Both of these disciplines benefit from the kind of breadth and maturity that a liberal arts education can bring.  At the same time, students can study singing or conducting intensively and gain valuable experience as soloist or conductor with our departmental ensembles beyond what would be available at a school with a larger number of music majors.

In short, Haverford and Bryn Mawr are great places to be for student musicians at any level of skill who want to experience music as something vitally connected to life outside the practice room.

Link to complete curriculum vita and bio.

Please contact me by phone (610-896-1006) or email tlloyd@haverford.edu if you have any questions.

Follow this link for more information on Choral Music at Haverford and Bryn Mawr