Z. Randall Stroope

Z. Randall Stroope is one of the most active choral conductors and composers working in the United States today, with recent conducting engagements at the American School in Singapore, Canterbury Cathedral, England, Salzburger Dom in Salzburg, Washington National Cathedral, Vancouver Symphony, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. His compositions sell over 200,000 copies a year, and are performed regularly by esteemed ensembles throughout the world. Dr. Stroope has personally conducted/recorded 13 professional compact discs, and recordings of his music are heard frequently on radio and television broadcasts across the United States.

Stroope studied conducting with Dr. Douglas McEwen at Arizona State University and with Margaret Hillis, Chorus Master of the Chicago Symphony. He is currently the Director of Choral Studies at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, where he conducts the Concert Choir and directs the undergraduate and graduate choral conducting programs at the University. Dr. Stroope is also the Artistic Director of a summer international choral festival in Somerset, England and another summer music festival in Rome, Italy. This year, he will direct his 24th all-state choir, and is the only clinician to ever conduct the Texas all-state three times. Choral groups under his direction have taken 15 international tours, including China, Russia, Japan, Sweden, and South Africa. Dr. Stroope will lead the Rowan University Concert Choir in a tour of Italy in May, 2008. Dr. Stroope has also had performing groups on the ACDA and MENC National Conventions and the International Society of Music Education.

Dr. Stroope studied composition with Cecil Effinger and Normand Lockwood, both students of Nadia Boulanger (who was a student of Gabriel Faure'). Stroope has published 80 musical works with Alliance Music Publishers, Colla Voce Music, Heritage Music Press, MorningStar, and Walton Music. He was the ACDA Raymond Brock commissioned composer for 2004, and he has written works for the American Boy Choir, Boseman Symphony, Hilton Head Choral Society, Texas Choral Directors Association, and over 40 other groups.

Dr. Stroope was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, received a masters in Voice Performance from the University of Colorado, and received a doctorate in choral conducting from Arizona State University. He and his wife, Cheryl, enjoy travel and time with their Sheltie.