 Dr. Rosephanye Dunn Powell
Dr. Rosephanye Dunn Powell serves as Professor of Voice at Auburn University. She holds degrees from The Florida State University (D.M. in vocal performance, University Fellow), Westminster Choir College (M.M. in vocal performance and pedagogy, with distinction), and Alabama State University (B.M.E., summa cum laude). Prior to her tenure at AU, Dr. Powell served on the faculties of Philander Smith College and Georgia Southern University.
Dr. Powell has distinguished herself as a researcher, interpreter and performer of the African-American spiritual and solo vocal works by William Grant Still. She has presented numerous recitals and lecture-recitals at churches, concert halls, universities and professional meetings around the country. Her commercial CD recording Motherless Child , dedicated to the preservation of the African-American spiritual, has been hailed as a “fresh approach to the spiritual, bridging the past to the present”. Dr. Powell's scholarly works include an article Keeping the “Choir” in Showchoir, published in the American Choral Directors Journal (2010). Her doctoral treatise, The Art Songs of William Grant Still , is considered an authoritative work on the subject, and her article "William Grant Still: His Life and His Songs" was published in the prestigious NATS Journal of Singing . Dr. Powell served as the editor and wrote the introduction for William Grant Still: An Art Song Collection published by William Grant Still Music. Her article, "The African-American Spritual: Preparation and Performance Considerations" was published in the NATS Journal of Singing , as well .
Dr. Powell has been hailed as one of America's premier women composers of choral music. She has an impressive catalogue of works published by some of the nation's leading publishers, including the Hal Leonard Corporation, the Fred Bock Music Company, Oxford University Press and Alliance Music Publications. Additionally, Dr. Powell is commissioned yearly to compose for university choruses, professional, community and church choirs, as well as secondary school choruses. Her works have been conducted and premiered by nationally-renowned choral conductors, including, but not limited to, Anton Armstrong, Philip Brunelle, Bob Chilcott, Rodney Eichenberger, Tom Hall, Albert McNeil, Tim Seelig, André Thomas and Judith Willoughby. Dr. Powell's compositions are in great demand at choral festivals around the country, frequently appearing on regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, as well as Honor Choir festivals. Her works are performed yearly in many parts of the world including countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South and Central America. Dr. Powell's compositions include sacred, secular, and multicultural works for mixed chorus, women's chorus, men's chorus, and children's voices. As a commissioned composer, Dr. Powell is in frequent demand as a composer-in-residence, clinician, and conductor at universities, schools and churches nationally and internationally.
Dr. Powell served as an arranger and co-editor, along with her husband Dr. William C. Powell, for the choral collection I'm Gonna Sing: Twelve Spirituals for Upper Voices to be published by Oxford University Press in 2011. Recent commissions include Christmas Give , a suite of six songs for SATB, composed for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and their newly-released CD "Christmas at America's First Cathedral," (Gothic Records, 2010) ; Be Glad in the Lord composed for Philip Brunelle and Plymouth Congregational Church; and Hope Come True , a suite of five songs for SSAA and SATB composed and arranged for MUSE Cincinnati's Women's Choir and Central State University Chorus (OH) .
In 2009, Dr. Powell was a recipient of the “Living Legend Award” presented by California State University African Diaspora Sacred Music Festival in Los Angeles. She was listed in the first edition of the international publication Who Is Who in Choral Music . And, she has been included in Who's Who Among America's Teachers and Outstanding Young Women in America in recent years. Dr. Powell is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the College Music Society (CMS), the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and the Music Educators National Conference (NAfME).
For more biographical information on Dr. Powell, including a catalogue of her works and song demos, visit www.rosephanyepowell.com.
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