Keynote Address by Alice Parker

Keynote presented on March 19, 2021, at the ACDA national virtual conference. Alice Parker, internationally renowned composer, conductor and teacher, studied composition and conducting at Smith College and the Juilliard School where she began her long association with Robert Shaw. The many Parker/Shaw settings of American folksongs, hymns and spirituals from that period form an enduring repertoire for choruses all around the world.

Her list of published compositions has over five hundred titles, ranging from operas through song cycles, cantatas and choral suites to many individual anthems. She has been commissioned by hundreds of community, school and church choruses, and her works appear in the catalogs of a dozen publishing companies.

In 1985, with the founding of MELODIOUS ACCORD, INC,. she focused her activities on the heart of vocal music: the melody. The Musicians of MELODIOUS ACCORD, a sixteen-voice professional chorus, has released fourteen albums in the last two decades. Through the Melodious Accord Fellowship Program, mid-career professional musicians are brought together for inspiration and refreshment in their teaching, composing and conducting under her mentorship.

Now a resident of western Massachusetts, Parker has published books on melodic styles, choral improvisation and church music.