Dr. David E. Morrow - Current Director
David E. Morrow is a native of Rochester, New York. He earned the Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College in 1980. While at Morehouse, he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, was awarded the Kemper Harreld Award for Excellence in Music, received departmental honors, and graduated Valedictorian of his class. He received the Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan in 1981 and was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music in 1995. He has studied conducting with Wendell Whalum Sr., Thomas Hilbish, Elmer Thomas, John Leman, Earl Rivers, Elizabeth Green, Teri Murai, Fiora Contino and Donald Neuen. He has taken conducting master classes with Stephen Darlington, Jan Szyrocki, Dale Warland and Sir David Willcocks.
Dr. Morrow has been a member of the Music faculty at Morehouse College since 1981. He served as Assistant Director of the Morehouse College Glee Club until 1987, when he succeeded Dr. Wendell P. Whalum, Sr. as Director of the Glee Club. He is also Director of the Wendell P. Whalum Community Chorus, Co-Director of the Morehouse-Spelman Chorus, and Artistic Director and Conductor of The Atlanta Singers. In December 1991, Dr. Morrow conducted the Morehouse College Glee Club for the Kennedy Center Honors as part of the tribute to Robert Shaw, Conductor Laureate, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In January 1993, he conducted soprano Jessye Norman and the Spelman-Morehouse Chorus at Atlanta's Symphony Hall in a concert celebrating the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. In January of 1994, he conducted the combined choruses of the Atlanta University Center and Natalie Cole singing the National Anthem for Super Bowl XXVIII. In April of the same year, he conducted the Morehouse College Glee Club in a concert with the Black Music Repertory Ensemble at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Illinois. In 1996, Dr. Morrow conducted the Morehouse College Glee Club during a tour of Russia and for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games. In addition to numerous performances with the Glee Club in the United States, international performances with the Glee Club include a tour of Poland in 1998, Bermuda in 2001, the Bahamas in 2005, South Africa in 2008 and Canada and Puerto Rico in 2011.
In June 1990, Mr. Morrow conducted combined choirs and brass from the Atlanta University Center schools for the Academic Convocation for Nelson Mandela at Morehouse College. He lectured on "African-American Music: The Oral Tradition" for the 1992 and 1993 Choral Conducting Workshop at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Morrow has served as a clinician and/or lectured at the Hampton University Ministers/Musicians Conference, the Iowa Choral Directors Association Meeting, the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga, the South Carolina Choral Directors Association, the University of Cincinnati, the Detroit Public Schools Mid-Semester Music Workshop, the 1998 Intercollegiate Men's Choruses, Inc. National Seminar, Miami University (Oxford,OH), and Cornell University. In August of 2002, he was guest conductor for the first Festival of Spirituals organized by the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In August 2009, he was selected as a national conductor for the 2nd Annual Concert of the 105 Voices of History HBCU Concert Choir at the Kennedy Center. In April 2010, Dr. Morrow was conductor for a one week residency at Westminster Choir College of Ryder University. He is a sought-after guest conductor for high school honor choirs and All-State choruses in the state of Georgia and beyond. His choral arrangements of spirituals and other African-American folk music have been published by Alfred Music Publishers, Hal Leonard Music, Oxford University Press and most recently, by GIA Music Publishers.
Dr. Morrow is a member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Musicians Association and is past-president of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Intercollegiate Men's Choruses, Inc. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, the Georgia Music Educators Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and is a "Friend of the Arts" member of Sigma Alpha Iota.
© All Rights Reserved 1996 - 2021
BACK TO MCGC HOME PAGE