Elizabeth Swanson

Elizabeth Swanson is Associate Director of Choral Studies and Assistant Professor of Music in the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she conducts the University Choir and teaches undergraduate courses in conducting. Additionally, Swanson serves as secretary on the executive board of the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO).

Prior to her appointment at CU Boulder, Swanson was Associate Professor of Music at Nyack College School of Music in New York City. Under her direction, the Nyack College Chorale performed in renowned venues such as David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and St. Paul’s Chapel at Trinity Church Wall Street, and toured domestically. Throughout her tenure at Nyack College, Swanson taught courses in conducting, rehearsal methods, sight singing and music history.

While in New York City, Swanson served as a part-time arts administrator and Concert Operations Associate at Manhattan Concert Productions, a New York City-based company that provides outstanding performance and educational opportunities for musicians in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Apollo and other renowned locations.

A noted mezzo soprano, Swanson sang professionally for four seasons with New York City-based professional choir Manhattan Chorale, an ensemble for which she was also the manager for three seasons. Manhattan Chorale performs regularly at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center, and as well as venues in Boston, Chicago and Washington D.C. As a member of Chorale Le Chateau, Swanson took part in a collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a performance of Marsalis’s Abyssinian Mass. While in Chicago, Swanson was a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Grant Park Chorus.

Swanson has also been the conductor of choral ensembles at the University of Chicago and North Park University in Chicago, was a guest conductor at Roosevelt University (Chicago College of Performing Arts), and served as a sabbatical replacement at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Swanson is an active guest conductor, a presenter at national conferences hosted by ACDA and NCCO, and has been published in The Choral Journal. Her dissertation was a qualitative analysis of Augsust 4, 1964, an oratorio by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky, with original libretto by Gene Scheer.

Swanson earned degrees from Northwestern University (DM Conducting), Ithaca College (MM Conducting) and St. Olaf College (BM Vocal Education). Her primary mentors include Anton Armstrong, Craig Arnold, Janet Galván, Robert Harris and Cheryl Frazes Hill.