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Dr. Thomas R. Vozzella has served as a Music Ministry Director/Organist in Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas since the age of fifteen. In addition to his church positions, he has taught at institutions of higher education in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and Kansas. Choirs under his direction have constantly received superior ratings and have been invited to perform under his direction for the Kansas Music Educators Association, the Texas Choral Directors Association, at Carnegie Hall and the Tennessee Choral Directors Association. Thomas has toured, concertized and or conducted extensively in the following states - Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, Colorado, and West Virginia, and the following countries - Italy, Austria, Germany, France, England, Netherlands (Holland), Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Spain. During his tenure at First United Methodist Church, El Dorado, Arkansas, the adult and youth choirs were heard on NPR’s Performance Today. He has also performed on the BBC, on NBC for the national broadcast service celebrating the release of American hostages in Iran (1981), for Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the infamous Ted “Teddy” Kennedy. He has had the honor of having bass Edward Pleasant, mezzo-sopranos Luretta Bybee and Susan Graham visit his rehearsals and sing in his choir. He has also conducted performances at The White House by invitation of President and Mrs. George W. Bush. Additionally he conducted a mass choir, joined by Lee Greenwood and The Gatlin Brothers in The National Anthem at the Bush Homecoming Celebration in Midland, Texas, January 2009. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, the Master of music degree from Northeast Louisiana University (University of Louisiana, Monroe), and the Bachelor of Music degree from Eastern Nazarene College. Additional work was completed at Nazarene Theological Seminary, The University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory of Music and the Royal School of Church Music, Croydon, England. He is also an active member in the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Texas Choral Directors Association (TCDA), American Guild of Organists (AGO), Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, Association of Anglican Musicians (AAM), National Association for Music Education (MENC), Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), and The American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He has also served as a Choral Mentor for MENC, has also served as a choral judge/clinician in Massachusetts, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. His compositions are published by Alliance, Augsburg, Abingdon, Selah and CanticaNOVA music publishers. Currently he is working on a choral orchestral suite of the music from The Prince of Egypt with composer Stephen Schwartz.
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