2016 All College Chorus Wes Stoner, Choral Division Chair Dr. Betsy Cook Weber, Conductor Maila Springfield, Accompanist Dr. David Langley, Organizer January 29, 2016
Dr. Betsy Cook Weber
is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. In addition, she serves as Director of the Houston Symphony Chorus, preparing major choral-orchestral works for some of the world’s leading conductors. She is also highly active internationally as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer. In 2013, Dr. Weber became the 13th recipient and 1st woman to receive the prestigious Texas Choirmaster award from the Texas Choral Directors Association (TCDA.) The University of Houston Moores School Concert Chorale, which she directs, has performed for the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) in 2005, 2008, and 2013; they were featured at the national ACDA convention in Miami in 2007. Internationally, Chorale has received acclaim at four prestigious international competitions —the Eisteddfod in Wales in 2009, winning or placing in every category in which they were entered and the Florilége Vocal in Tours, France in 2011. In the spring of 2013, she led Concert Chorale to a first place finish in the prestigious Marktoberdorf Chamber Choir Competition in Germany, and in July 2015, Chorale competed in the Grand Prix of Nations in Magdeburg, Germany earning the title of World Champion in Youth Chorus (under age of 24) as well as two other gold medals. Before coming to the University of Houston, Dr. Weber was a successful music teacher in the public schools at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, during which time choirs under her direction flourished and won numerous competitions and awards. She holds degrees from the University of North Texas, Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ), and the University of Houston.