Albert McNeil

Albert McNeil is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of California at Davis, where he was Director of Choral Activities for 21 years and headed the Music Education Program. Simultaneous with the Davis period, he taught Ethnomusicology at the University of Southern California for 12 years. Prior to his University teaching, Professor McNeil taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 17 years beginning at the elementary level and including junior high, and ended his tenure in the district at the Susan Miller Dorsey High School where he headed a multi-school program known as APEX, Area Project for Educational Exchange, involving five high schools in a unique federally funded experimental program with each high school specializing in unique course offerings.

Founder of the McNeil Jubilee Singers, he has dedicated himself to upholding a choral tradition of excellence with the presentation of the concert spiritual and the ever-increasing contributions of African American Composers of Concert Music, Opera, and theatre music. Under his direction, the group, now in its 40th year, has performed in over 70 countries, including Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, and North and West Africa. During the summer of 1997 they completed their third tour of South America after numerous transcontinental tours of the U.S., Hawaii, and Canada.

In addition to his work at the University and conducting the Jubilee Singers, Professor McNeil has been an author and editor on a series of music education textbooks for Silver-Burdett-Ginn Publishing Company. He co-authored an educational packet for Bowman Publishing Company as well. His arrangements can be found in the Gentry and Lawson-Gould catalogues. He is also in demand as an adjudicator and clinician and is often invited to conduct "honor choirs" throughout the United States and abroad.

Notable among his many awards are: Alumnus of the Year for Professional Excellence presented by his alma mater, UCLA, and the Michael Korn Award for distinguished conducting (Chorus America--Association of Professional Ensembles). He has the honor of being selected a Sterling Patron of Mu Phi Epsilon. The California State University Board of Trustees on May 28, 2003, conferred the honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree upon McNeil at the summer 2003 commencement exercises held on the campus of California State University, Northridge. He also delivered the commencement address at that time. The ACDA Western Division honored both the Jubilee Singers and Professor McNeil in "command performances" at their Las Vegas Convention in February 2004, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to Choral Music. He received a lifetime achievement award in July 2007 from the National Association of Church Musicians at their summer conference in Camarillo, California.

Westminster Choir College of Rider University has announced that it will confer the Doctor of Music on Professor McNeil during their annual commencement Saturday, May 15, 2010.

Professor McNeil is on the boards of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Neighborhood Music School. He holds "Honorary membership" in the Society of Puerto Rican Choral Directors, and received an award from the Association of Choral Singers from the National Choir of the Dominican Republic after a series of concerts there in 1995. He is a life member of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association of Negro Musicians.