Biddlecombe, Tucker

Tucker Biddlecombe is Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where he serves as conductor of the Vanderbilt Chorale and Symphonic Choir. He was recently been named Director of Blair's five-year Bachelor of Music/Teacher Education degree program, which is offered in conjunction with the Peabody College of Education.

Over the course of a 10-year career as a public school music educator, Biddlecombe achieved National Board Teacher Certification and was named Teacher of the Year at Lawton Chiles High School in Florida. Ensembles under his direction have performed to acclaim at state and division conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. He is a sought-after clinician and adjudicator and has recently conducted honor choirs in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New York and Tennessee, including the Florida All-State Men’s Chorus. He has prepared choruses for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, and recently served as a guest director for professional early-music ensemble Music City Baroque.

Biddlecombe is a published composer and arranger, with choral works printed by Alliance, Hinshaw and Walton Music. His article on the specificity of conductor feedback was published in the fourth volume of the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. At Blair, he has presented a lecture-concert on the music of Robert Shaw and Alice Parker, a centenary celebration of Benjamin Britten, and a lecture-concert of Ariel Ramirez’s Misa Criolla in partnership with Vanderbilt’s Center for Latin American Studies. He is the most recent recipient of the Blair School’s Faculty Excellence Award.

Biddlecombe holds a Ph.D. in Music Education and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Florida State University, and a Bachelor of Music degree, with majors in Vocal Performance and Music Education, from SUNY Potsdam. He is a native of Buffalo, N.Y., and lives in Nashville with his wife Mary Biddlecombe, who is Artistic Director of the Blair Children’s Chorus.