Merrin Guice Gill

Job titles

• Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities
  Music and Theatre , College of Arts and Sciences

Highlight

Bethel Choir (SATB), Festival Choir (SATB), Choral Conducting, Music History, Opera, Musical Theatre, Ethnomusicology

Started at Bethel

2019

Education

• Spelman College - B.A. in Voice Performance, 2002
• Rutgers University - M.M. in Choral Conducting, 2004
• University of Wisconsin - D.M.A. in Choral Conducting, 2009

Biography

Dr. Merrin Guice Gill is the Director of Choral Activities at Bethel University. Dr. Guice Gill directs the Bethel Choir and Festival Choir. She also teaches private voice. Dr. Guice Gill has previously taught on the campuses of Buena Vista University, The University of Wisconsin, and Miami University Ohio, Hamilton Campus. Her choral work has led her to conduct throughout the United States as well as in Canada and Europe. She was selected as one of ten International Conductors to participate in the Sarteano, Italy Choral Conducting Workshop with Simon Carrington and Brian O'Connell where she directed a choir of professionals. Along with choral work Dr. Guice Gill has significant experience conducting orchestras. She was the assistant conductor for the Agnes Scott Community Orchestra in Georgia, worked as a conductor with the Stoughton Opera Company in Wisconsin, and was awarded a young artist award for Conducting by the Madison Symphony Orchestra, which she subsequently led in performance.

Her ensembles are given a vast array of valuable experiences. Her university choirs have toured throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. They have worked with composers Morten Lauridsen and Stacey Gibbs at College Honor Choir presentations. She has led her choirs in receiving National and International awards and recognitions, including: first and second place prizes in the "Riva Del Garda International Choral Competition", Silver Medal at the "World Choir Games" and as finalists in the "American Prize for Choral Performance". Dr. Guice Gill has conducted at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague, various venues in Italy, The Arnoff Center in Cincinnati, and her choir has performed under. Guice Gill's direction at Carnegie Hall in New York. She is a frequent guest clinician at high schools and colleges for both voice and choral studies.

Dr. Guice Gill's scholarship, which focuses on 20th century text setting, has been presented at both regional and National Conferences and published in various journals including the National Collegiate Choral Organizations publication, The Choral Scholar. She was the recipient of the Rockefeller Brothers Education Grant and Curriculum Award and several other grants in education and research.

She has conducted and prepared numerous operas including Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Gianni Schicci and Suor Angelica by Puccini, Don Giovanni, Cendrillon by both Massenet and Viaradot, Marriage of Figaro, and Dido and Aeneas. As a trained soprano Dr. Guice Gill has performed with several opera companies and in a variety of venues including: Cincinnati Opera, "Mostly Mozart Festival" at Lincoln Center, Madison Overture Center and most recently as a soloist for a debut concert for composer Stacey Gibbs at Carnegie Hall. Dr. Guice Gill frequently performs lecture recitals and maintains a successful vocal studio. Dr. Guice Gill’s voice students have been awarded numerous state, regional, and national awards. Her students  have gone on to acceptance at selective graduate programs for voice, conducting and directing including Rutgers  University Opera Studio, Roosevelt University, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, University of Texas Austin, Arizona State University and James Madison University.  

Dr. Guice Gill is a member of American Choral Director Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Phi Beta Kappa International Honor Society, and National Collegiate Choral Organization.

Courses taught

Bethel Choir (SATB), Festival Choir (SATB), Choral Literature and Conducting, Music History II, Music in World Cultures, Producing and Performing an Opera, Private Voice Lessons

 

 

Awards

Riva Del Garda International Choral Competition First and Second Place Honors

World Choir Games Honors

Finalist American Prize Choral Performance

Professional organizations, committees, and boards

National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS)

American Choral Directors Association (ACDA)

Phi Beta Kappa International Honor Society

National Collegiate Choral Organization

Areas of expertise

Choral Conducting, Choral Literature, Music History, Opera, Musical Theatre, Ethnomusicology