Enhanced by stunning artistic projections, this performance showcases Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, performed by chorus and orchestra. Blending virtuosic piano with symphonic and choral forces, the work conveys themes of unity, creativity, and the transformative power of music. 

The first half of the concert will highlight the National Concert Chorus, including works by Ola Gjeilo, Norman Dello Joio, C. Hubert H. Parry, and a world premiere by composer Connor Koppin.

JEFFREY MURDOCK, GUEST CONDUCTOR

Dr. Jeffrey Allen Murdock is internationally known as a conductor, clinician, and music educator. He currently serves as Director of Choral Activities, Professor of Music, and is the Founding Director of the Arkansas Center for Black Music at the University of Arkansas. He is a 2016 Connor Endowed Faculty Fellow in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, a 2018 recipient of the Golden Tusk Award, the 2019 Most Outstanding Faculty Member among all university faculty, a member of the distinguished University of Arkansas Teaching Academy and is the 2021 GRAMMY Music Educator of the Year.

Dr. Murdock appears regularly in concert, recital, and stage performances, having previously conducted the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the (Mississippi) Gulf Coast Symphony and has also performed as a soloist with the Fort Smith Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, and the Southern Mississippi Opera. Dr. Murdock’s love of scholarship and performance has led him to study and perform around the world. As a music educator, he loves to invest his knowledge and experience in the next generation of young musicians through clinic opportunities with secondary choral programs, conducting honor choruses, and mentoring choral music educators.  Dr. Murdock is highly sought after as a clinician in the field of choral music and education, having conducted All-State and All-Region choirs, or headlined conferences in 26 states and 7 countries. In 2013, he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the Millington Chorale in a well-received concert of diverse repertoire. The evening concert featuring the ensemble was praised for its preparation and the ensemble’s maturity of sound.

While Dr. Murdock is an accomplished classical musician, he is also a skilled Gospel musician. He has served on the conducting staff of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. and has collaborated with Gospel recording artists, including Donnie McClurkin, Richard Smallwood, Mary Mary, Marvin Winans, Marvin Sapp, Lisa Knowles, Kathy Taylor, and numerous others.

Dr. Murdock’s research interests include cultural hegemony in choral music education, social justice in music education, culturally responsive pedagogy in music education, and music in urban schools. He has been invited to present at the National Research Conference for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) as well as two World Conferences of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) – (Glasgow, U.K., and Helsinki, Finland). Dr. Murdock is also a frequent research presenter at local and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors’ Association (ACDA) where he is president-elect of the Southwestern Division (SWACDA), past president of the Arkansas Chapter, and serves on the national subcommittee for diversity.  Dr. Murdock holds both Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music in Conducting degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Music Education from the University of Memphis. In addition to NAfME and ACDA, his professional memberships include the ASCAP and the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO). He is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated.

JULIE YU, GUEST CONDUCTOR

Dr. Julie Yu (She/Her/Hers) is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University and the Artistic Director of Canterbury Voices, Oklahoma’s premier symphony chorus.

She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Central Oklahoma, Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Oklahoma State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas. Before joining OCU and Canterbury Voices, she taught at Norman North High School in Oklahoma, San José State University, and Kansas State University.

She has given presentations, conducted, and/or her choirs have performed for state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, and the European Music Educators Association. She is the past president of the Southwestern Region of the American Choral Directors Association and served as an International Conducting Exchange Fellow to Kenya in 2019. 

Her favorite area of research and performance is working as a guest clinician/conductor for various honor choirs and professional organizations.

CONNOR KOPPIN, COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE

Connor Koppin is an award-winning composer and conductor of choral music, known for his exceptional craftsmanship and the harmonic and melodic beauty of his work. His music is often centered on relevant real-world themes such as resiliency, societal strife and reconciliation, and climate advocacy. Additionally, many of his compositions are aimed at stichting together antiquity and modernity through the marriage of new and old, placing an emphasis on the universality of living, and the human experience. He is a 2025 finalist for The American Prize in Choral Composition (short works). Additionally, Koppin is slated to serve as Composer-in-Residence at Carnegie Hall in association with National Concerts in 2026. Koppin wrote his first large-scale work, “I Call Your Name” in 2019, alongside poet Brian Newhouse who crafted the libretto.

Among his accolades are awards from the Young New Yorker’s Chorus Young Composer Competition and the Inaugural Capital Hearings Young Composers Competition. His music has been featured on All-State and festival programs in states such as Texas, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Arkansas, and California. Koppin’s works have been performed at renowned venues like Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center and showcased at both regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He currently has two works—There Will Come Soft Rains and I Found Night—featured on the forthcoming album Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain by the acclaimed Phoenix Chorale. Koppin holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University, where he studied under David Rayl, Sandra Snow, and Jonathan Reed. He began his compositional journey at Wartburg College, where he sang with Dr. Lee Nelson and the Wartburg Choir. His works are widely published by leading music publishers, including Oxford University Press, Walton Music, Hal Leonard, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, G. Schirmer, and Colla Voce Music Publishing. Regularly performed by choirs across the globe, his compositions have earned him a place as a significant voice in contemporary choral music. 

PROGRAM

Monday March 16, 2026 at 8:00 PM
CARNEGIE HALL

National Concert Chorus 
Jeffrey Allen Murdock, guest conductor

C. HUBERT H. PARRY Jerusalem
J. ROSAMUND JOHNSON arr. ROLAND CARTER Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing
OLA GJEILO Ubi Caritas
TRADITIONAL arr. CEDRIC DENT He’s Got the World In His Hands
NORMAN DELLO JOIO A Jubilant Song
CONNER KOPPIN Commissioned Work (World Premiere)

National Masterwork Chorus 
Julie Yu, guest conductor

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Choral Fantasy in C Minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra, op. 80