Biography

Laura Leigh Spillane is the Associate Director of Choral Activities and an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she directs the Concert Choir and teaches courses in choral music education, conducting, and graduate choral literature. Prior to joining the faculty at Tennessee, she served on the faculties of Saddleback College and Scripps College in Southern California, directing the Saddleback Chamber Singers, Claremont Concert Choir, and Claremont Treble Choir.

A conductor, music educator, and soprano from the southeastern United States, Spillane previously served as a choral director at both the middle and high school levels in the Fulton County and Gwinnett County School Districts in Georgia and has over a decade of professional church music experience. She was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Georgia American Choral Directors Association Young Director Award in 2019.

Spillane holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Music from the University of Southern California, where her fields of study were musicology, vocology, and instrumental conducting. Her dissertation research examined how trends in written range and tessitura impact vocal stamina in mixed-voice choral ensembles. While at USC, she also served as Senior Teaching Assistant for the Thornton School of Music, Associate Conductor of the Chamber Singers, and Lead Conductor of the University Chorus. She was the 2023 recipient of the USC Thornton Choral Music Award. She also holds the Master of Music degree in Conducting from the University of Georgia, where she was a Carl Hoveland Fellow and graduate assistant. She received the UGA Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award in 2015. Her Bachelor of Music Education degree is from Reinhardt University, where she graduated summa cum laude.

Spillane is an active clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator. Her conducting teachers include Cristian Grases, Tram Sparks, Larry Livingston, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Daniel Bara, J.D. Burnett, and Martha Shaw. She is a member of ACDA, ETVA, TnMEA, NAfME, and NCCO.

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Education

• DMA Choral Conducting – University of Southern California (2023)
• MM Choral Conducting – University of Georgia (2015)
• BME Choral Music Education – Reinhardt University (2013)