Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth leads an active career as conductor and composer, educator and keyboard artist. In addition to her role as Artistic Director of the Farmington Valley Chorale, she served for seven years as Artistic Director of Novi Cantori, a professional chamber choir based in Springfield, MA. Recently she has served on the music faculty at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT, as well as Westfield State University in Westfield, MA. Ellen currently serves on the Board of the CT chapter of the American Choral Directors Association as well as Vice-Chair of Choral Arts New England, a grant-awarding agency supporting the choral arts in the six New England states.
In past years, Voth has served as Chorus Director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Chorus (MA), as Director of the Symphonic Chorale at Gordon College (MA), as Assistant Conductor of the New Haven Chorale (CT), and as a conductor with the Connecticut Children’s Chorus. She has been a member of the music faculty at Western New England University (where she also served as music coordinator), at Gordon College in Wenham, MA and at the Ithaca College School of Music in Ithaca, NY. Previously she was also the choral director at Perkiomen Valley High School in Collegeville, PA. For many summers Voth served on the faculty of the Masterworks Festival in Winona Lake, IN and the Csehy Summer School of Music in Langhorne, PA (now Houghton, NY). She has been active as a guest conductor for choral festivals, most recently for the OAKE national conference (March, 2013), and the Rhode Island All-State High School Chorus (March, 2014).
A regularly commissioned composer, Voth’s works are published by Oxford University Press, ECS Publishing, Colla Voce, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and frequently appear at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. Her recent awards and recognitions include the Michigan Choral Commission Consortium prize and also being a finalist in the 2020 Raymond Brock competition for professional composers sponsored by ACDA. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician, an active pianist and organist, and a singing member of CONCORA.
Voth received her doctoral degree (DMA) from The Hartt School, Univ. of Hartford (CT), where she was the recipient of the Regents’ Honor Award for graduate students. Her master’s degree (MM) was from Westminster Choir College of Rider University (NJ), and her bachelor’s degree (BME), magna cum laude, was from Wheaton College Conservatory of Music (IL). Ellen, her husband, Greg, and their daughter, Heather Joylin, make their home in West Hartford, CT.