Gregory Ramsdell

Dr. Greg Ramsdell serves as Chair of the School of Music and Theatre, Professor of Choral Music Education, and Director of Choral Activities at Heidelberg University. In this capacity, he conducts the Concert Choir, the Chamber Singers, and the University- Community Chorus. In addition to his conducting responsibilities, he teaches courses in beginning voice, conducting, and secondary choral methods.

Greg received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education from Bowling Green State University. In 2006, he earned his DMA in choral conducting performance with honors from the University of Kansas. His DMA document, “Paradise Lost and Regained: Poetic and Musical Images of Paradise, Sin, and Redemption in Mid- twentieth Century Choral Settings of Cecilia Odes by Benjamin Britten and Norman Dello Joio,” was nominated for the Julius Herford Prize, the award given to the outstanding doctoral terminal research project in choral music.

Greg has conducted junior high and high school honor choirs in Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and has adjudicated large ensemble choral contests in Kansas, Arkansas, and Ohio. His research has been presented at state and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. During the spring of 2018, Dr. Ramsdell received Heidelberg’s prestigious Ream-Paradiso Distinguished Teaching Award, and in the spring of 2021, the student body recognized him with a Faculty Member of the Year Award. In February 2023, Greg was named the recipient of Heidelberg’s Jane Frost-Kalnow Professorship in the Humanities.

Under Dr. Ramsdell’s direction, Heidelberg choir have commissioned and presented premier performances of works by David Conte, David Dickau, Michael John Trotta, Eric William Barnum, Paul Wargo, and Matthew Kennedy. In 2022, the Concert Choir was honored with an invitation to perform at the Ohio Music Educators Association’s annual professional development conference. Each year, the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers has toured domestically, and in the spring of 2019, the choir traveled internationally, performing in Budapest, Brno, and Prague. In observance of Heidelberg's 175th birthday, the Concert Choir will tour Germany, with performances planned in Heidelberg, Leipzig, and Berlin.

Courses Taught

SMT 100A: Concert Choir
SMT 150A: Chamber Singers
SMT 163: Vocal Explorations
MUS 216: Conducting I (Choral)
MUS 373: Choral Music Education in the Secondary Curriculum

Expertise

Choral Conducting, Choral Literature, Choral Pedagogy

Research Interests

Choral Conducting, Choral Literature, Choral and Vocal Pedagogy