Dr.
William C. Powell, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral
Activities, holds degrees from Alabama State University (B.M.E.),
Westminster Choir College (M.M.E.), and Florida State University
(Ph.D.). Dr. Powell was Director of Choral Activities at Philander Smith
College, Little Rock, Arkansas, for eight years prior to coming to his
current position at Auburn University in Fall 2001. Powell conducts the
Auburn University Concert Choir, Gospel Choir, and Men’s Chorus, and
teaches choral-related undergraduate, graduate, and distance courses in
conducting, choral techniques, choral arranging, and choral literature.
Powell is noted accompanist and arranger. As a pianist, he has
accompanied numerous vocal and instrumental performances, most of which
were for his wife; soprano, composer, and Auburn voice faculty member,
Dr. Rosephanye Dunn Powell. Powell’s choral arrangements are published
by Hal Leonard Corporation and Gentry Publications/Fred Bock Music. His
Hal Leonard publications include Gabi, Gabi (a South African praise
song), Ning Wendete (a Kenyan folk song), Weep O mine eyes, and Fa una
canzona (two Renaissance madrigals). Arrangements published by Gentry
Publications include alternate voice settings of compositions by
Rosephanye Powell: The Word was God and Non nobis Domine, and Glory
Hallelujah to duh Newbo’n King.
Powell is in demand as a choral conductor, adjudicator, presenter at
conferences and workshops. Recently, he and his wife, Rosephanye Powell,
were guest artists for the Ithaca College Gospel Music Festival held in
March 2007. In December 2006, he was a guest conductor for the Christmas
Candlelight Processional narrated by actor Edward James Olmos, at Walt
Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Powell is invited to return as guest
conductor for the 2007 Candlelight Processional.
In April 2006, Powell presented his debut conducting recital at Carnegie
Hall in New York City where he led the New England Chamber Orchestra and
choirs from around the United States in a performance of Haydn’s Te
Deum, and Mozart’s Missa Brevis in B-flat. Additionally, Powell has
guest conducted for several choral festivals and clinics throughout
Alabama and in various parts of the country, some of which include the
Arkansas All-State Male Chorus, the Pennsylvania Music Educators
Association (PMEA) World Music Honor Choir, the Texas Conference Choir
Clinic, and the PMEA Region IV Honor Choir. Powell has also conducted
choirs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C., the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, and
National Negro Spiritual Competition in Cincinnati, OH, where his
ensemble received the 2nd place trophy.
As an adjudicator, Powell has judged for choral festivals at the
district, regional, state, and national levels. Most recently, Powell
served as a choral adjudicator for the 2006 Disney Honors Festival in
Orlando, Florida, along with Rodney Eichenberger, Eph Ehly, Weston
Noble, and Jing Ling-Tam.
As a conference presenter, Powell has given lectures at state, regional,
national, and international meetings of organizations such as Music
Educators Association, American Choral Directors Association, College
Music Society, Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities,
and the National Society of Music in Technology.
An active member of the American Choral Directors Association, Powell
recently served as the Repertoire and Standards Chair of the Committee
on Ethnic and Multicultural Perspectives for the Southern Division. He
also holds memberships with the Music Educators Association, the College
Music Society, and the American Society of Composers and Publishers
(ASCAP). He and his wife, Rosephanye, have two daughters: Camille and
Kaitlyn.