Dr. Alan Stevens is Professor of Music, Chair of the Department of Music, and Director of Choral Activities at East Tennessee State University. He conducts the ETSU Chorale, the university’s flagship choral ensemble.
Dr. Stevens is an advocate for music education and for the importance of the arts in public schools, especially in rural and underfunded urban programs. He is a previous ACDA International Conductors Exchange fellow and developed a relationship in Brazil that resulted in return trips for residency at the renowned Conservatório de Tatuí. In 2019 he was invited to present at the Foro Coral Americano in San Juan, Argentina. Dr. Stevens has presented research sessions at national, regional and state conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and has also presented for multiple Tennessee Music Education Association State Conferences. His primary research area is American choral music prior to 1800, with an emphasis on the music of William Billings. He is a champion of new music and has commissioned more than thirty new works.
He served as the Artistic Director of the Appalachian Equality Chorus (formerly the Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus), based in Knoxville, TN, from 2015-2024, and the Appalachian Men’s Ensemble, based in Johnson City, TN, from 2015-2018. Prior to his appointment at ETSU, he taught secondary choral music in Illinois, followed by several years as a freelance musician in New York City where he studied voice with the late Shirlee Emmons. That was followed by three years in Arizona for grad school, during which he sang with the Phoenix Chorale. He appears on their album, Northern Lights. He also sang for three seasons with True Concord (Tucson, AZ), and appears on the Grammy-Nominated album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus. He is a featured soloist with the CORO Vocal Artists on the album Sweet Music Here. Dr. Stevens received undergraduate degrees in music education and vocal performance from Millikin University, the Master of Music degree from Northern Illinois University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona.