J. Weldon NORRIS, conductor (USA)

J. Weldon Norris, a native South Carolinian, graduated from South Carolina State College in 1955, having earned the Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and biology. After a tour of duty as a commissioned officer in the United States Army Reserve, Dr. Norris matriculated at Howard University from which he was awarded the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music (music history) degrees in 1959 and 1960, respectively. At Howard, Dr. Norris studied with Professors Vada E. Butcher, Evelyn White, Warner Lawson and Mark Fax. From 1969 until 1973, he served as Director of Choral Activities; Chairman, Department of Humanities; and Acting Academic Dean at Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina. In 1975, Dr. Norris, a Ford Foundation Fellow, was awarded the Doctor of Music degree from the School of Music at Indiana University.

Dr. Norris was appointed Director of University Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Howard University in 1973. He has pursued post-doctoral studies at the Johann Sebastian Bach Academy in Stuttgart, Germany, as well as at the Haydn Congress in Vienna, Austria, and Hungary. He has also studied with the eminent choral conductors Robert Shaw and Eric Ericson, Director of the Swedish Radio Choir in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Norris has also participated in a number of study tours to Germany. A published arranger of and scholar on the Negro Spiritual, he was asked in 1986 to deliver lectures on that genre at the "Amerika-Schule" and the "Amerika-Haus" in Hamburg, the University of Gettingen (Germany); Krakow, Poland; Caracas, Venezuela; and Valencia, Spain.

Despite of a busy schedule of performances with the Howard University Choir throughout the United States and abroad, Dr. Norris is often in demand as a choral adjudicator and guest conductor at county and state festivals.

In addition to his duties as Director, Office of University Choirs and Bands and Conductor of the Howard University Choir, Dr. Norris was recently appointed by the Governor of Maryland to the Commission for Performers with Disabilities. He has also been appointed to the board of the Prince Georges County Historical Association.