Debra Spurgeon

Debra Spurgeon is associate professor of music at the University of Mississippi where she conducts the Women's Glee and teaches choral methods and conducting. She has conducted high school and collegiate honor choirs in Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. Prior to moving to Ole Miss she taught voice and conducted the women's choir and chamber choir at Southwestern Oklahoma State University for eighteen years. She and her husband, Alan, initiated a comprehensive junior and senior high choral program in Bentonville, Arkansas before moving into college teaching.

Dr. Spurgeon has been actively involved in leadership roles in the American Choral Directors Association, serving as president of the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association and president-elect of the Southwestern Division of ACDA. She is currently on the executive board of Mississippi Choral Directors.

Dr. Spurgeon's areas of research include voice building in the choral rehearsal and French melodiés. Her articles have appeared in the Choral Journal, Teaching Music, and NATS Journal. In 1999 she was named Oklahoma Director of Distinction. Her most recent publication is an edition of a choral work by the French composer Reynaldo Hahn entitled Le Jour, published by Alliance Music Corporation.

Dr. Spurgeon holds the doctor of musical arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma where she was a recipient of the Benton Schmidt Voice Award; the master of music education from the University of Arkansas; and the bachelor of music education from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.

An active soprano soloist, her choral/orchestral solo work includes the Mozart Requiem, Haydn Heiligmesse, Fauré Requiem, Honneger King David, Rutter Requiem, Monteverdi Vespers, Handel's Messiah, and the Queen in The Play of Daniel. In 2003 she sang the role of the Queen of the Night in the Ole Miss production of The Magic Flute.