Laura Leigh Spillane, D. M.A., is the Interim Associate Director of Choral Activities, Adjunct Assistant Professor, and Lecturer of Music Education at the University of Tennessee College of Music. At UT, she teaches courses in music education, choral conducting, and graduate choral literature, and conducts the Concert Choir. Prior to joining the faculty at Tennessee, she taught courses and led ensembles at Saddleback College and the Claremont Colleges in southern California.
A conductor, music educator, and soprano from Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Spillane previously served as a choral director at the middle and high school levels in the Fulton and Gwinnett County School Districts in Georgia and has served in professional church music for over a decade. She was honored as the inaugural recipient of the GA American Choral Directors Association Young Director Award in 2019.
Laura Leigh holds the Doctor of Music 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. She also holds the Master of Music degree in Conducting from the University of Georgia, where she was a Carol Hoveland Fellow and graduate assistant, and the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Reinhardt University, where she was a summa cum laude graduate. Her conducting teachers and mentors include Cristian Grases, Tram Sparks, Larry Livingston, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Nick Strimple, Daniel Bara, J.D. Burnett, and Martha Shaw. She is an active member of ACDA, NAfME, and NCCO.