Tim Sharp, ACDA Executive Director

Tim Sharp is Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the national professional association for choral conductors, educators, scholars, students, and choral music industry representatives in the United States. Sharp, an active choral conductor and researcher/writer, has varied his career with executive positions in both higher education and publishing and recording.

Dr. Sharp's research and writing focuses pedagogically in conducting and score analysis as evidenced by his publications Precision Conducting, Achieving Choral Blend and Balance, and Up Front! Becoming the Complete Choral Conductor.  Published essays betray his eclectic interests in acoustics, architecture, creativity, and aesthetics. He is also published in the area of eighteenth and nineteenth century American music, with scholarly articles and books including The German Songbook in the Nineteenth Century, and popular histories including Memphis Music Before the Blues and Nashville Music Before Country. His most recent publication is a short history of the American Choral Directors Association (Arcadia 2009). Projects in final editing stages include a critical edition of Johannes Herbst's Hymns to be Sung at the Pianoforte (Steglein) and a Festschrift in honor of Donald Paul Hustad (Pendgragon).

Tim has conducted university, church, community, and children’s choirs, conducted ACDA and MENC all-state and honor choirs, and formed choirs in such unlikely settings as a federal penitentiary and a chamber of commerce meeting. His choirs have toured domestically and abroad, singing in some of the world’s premiere concert and acoustic settings including St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and New York's Carnegie Hall. He has recently been appointed Artistic Director/Conductor of the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus. 

Sharp holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the School of Church Music of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. He is a Clare Hall Life Fellow at Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, has studied at the Aspen School of Music, the Harvard NEH Medieval Sacred Music Studies program, and received a Rotary Fellowship for study in Belgium. He came to ACDA from Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, where he was Dean of Fine Arts, conductor of the Rhodes Singers and MasterSingers Chorale, and held the Elizabeth G. Daughdrill Chair in the Fine Arts. Before his appointment at Rhodes, he was Director of Choral Activities at Belmont University, Nashville, TN, where he conducted the Belmont Chorale and Oratorio Chorus.

Dr. Sharp has served ACDA in many capacities, including membership on the Choral Journal Editorial Board, as editor for the Choral Journal standing column “Hallelujah!”; as member of the Research and Publications Committee; and as a state Repertoire and Standards chair and Interest Session and Reading Session presenter at ACDA Division and National Conventions. He represents the American Choral Directors Association on the Leadership Board of the International Federation for Choral Music.

Dr. Sharp's Vision for the ACDA in the Twenty-First Century

Sharp Notes - ACDA Executive Director's Blog

Recent Press:

Sharp to conduct the International Handel Festival Chorus in Dublin December 30, 2008

Tracing Music's Family Tree - an article in the Nashville Scene, October 22, 2008

His Goal: Amplify Love of Singing - an article in the Oklahoman, May 25, 2008

Photos:

Tim Sharp with Ann Meier Baker, President and CEO, Chorus America at their Washington DC offices

Tim Sharp and Jerry McCoy presenting the Oklahoma City Mayor's Proclamation during the 2009 National Conference

Tim Sharp at the 2009 National Conference Peace Event