Providence 2026: Envision will feature four exciting guest conductors for our honor choirs!
Houston native Robert T. Gibson is a conductor, clinician, composer/arranger, lecturer, and educator who desires to develop future music educators for the next generation. His love and passion for music and any student he conducts continues to leave lasting impressions on those he encounters. Gibson received a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music at Missouri State University. He has held middle school, high school, collegiate and church positions and has served as guest clinician in Texas, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, Kansas, Tennessee, and New York.
Gibson served as director Reed Academy and adjusted professor at Missouri State University. While at Reed, Gibson’s choirs were invited to various engagements and collaborated with other organizations throughout the Springfield community. Special events include Jackson Day’s Democratic Party Banquet, Community Remembrance & Historical Marker Dedication Ceremony in Springfield, and a performance at the 2022 Missouri Music Education Association. While at Missouri State, Gibson conducted the MSU Gospel Choir as well as founded the Missouri State Multicultural Ensemble, which was selected to perform at the Missouri Music Educator Association Conference in 2019. Both ensembles consisted of MSU students as well as community members and musicians. For his service to the Springfield community, Gibson was awarded the 2022 NAACP Trailblazer Award and granted June 9 as Robert T. Gibson Day by the mayor of Springfield.
Robert’s choral works and arrangements can be found through Walton Music and Alfred Publications. Gibson is the recipient of the 2020 receipt of the Missouri Choral Director Association Opus Award for his arrangement of “We Shall Overcome.” Gibson’s work has also been performed by the Texas All-State Tenor Bass Choir and the Missouri Summer All-State Choir.
He is a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. as well as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Phi Kappa Lamba National Music Honor Society. He is a proud husband to Amber Renae and father to Truly Grace.
Rob Dietz (he/him) is a multiple CARA winning arranger who has been performing contemporary a cappella music for over twenty years. Based in Los Angeles, Rob is best known for his work as an arranger and group coach for NBC’s The Sing-Off. Through his work on the show, Rob has had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the top talent in the vocal music world, including Pentatonix, Voiceplay, and many more. He is an award-winning vocal percussionist, and his distinctive sound has been featured on FOX’s Glee. His arrangements have been featured on several TV shows, including America’s Got Talent (NBC), To All The Boys: P.S I Still Love You (Netflix), and Pitch Slapped (Lifetime). As a teacher, Rob is a co-founder of A Cappella Academy and the author of A Cappella 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Contemporary A Cappella Singing published by Hal Leonard. His choral works are published by Alfred and Walton Music.
Cindy Ellis is a Cuban-American music educator and vocalist. After immigrating from Cuba in 2005, she studied music education and became a full time choral director at Miami Arts Studio (MAS), a 6-12th public magnet school in Miami, FL. Her ensembles frequently record backgrounds for television award shows including the Latin Grammy’s, and have been featured at various conferences and halls around the country. Ellis currently travels as a soloist and alto with the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers. She also serves as the World Musics & Cultures Coordinator for Southern ACDA, and is the MAS 2025 Teacher of the Year.
A Virginia native, Marques L. A. Garrett (he/him) is Associate Professor of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas. His responsibilities include conducting the University Singers and teaching graduate and undergraduate choral conducting. His previous appointments were at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Cheyney University. Additionally, he holds a PhD in Music Education (Choral Conducting) from Florida State University, an MM from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a BA from Hampton University.
An active conductor, Dr. Garrett is the founding conductor of the Nebraska Festival Singers and previously served as artistic director of the Omaha Symphonic Chorus. He serves as a guest conductor or clinician with school, church, and community choirs throughout the country in addition to festival and honor choirs in Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. His most recent engagements were with the NAfME All-Northwest and Connecticut All-State Mixed Choirs. Aside from his conducting classes at UNT, he leads conducting workshops at other universities and conferences. His formal conducting studies were with Dr. André J. Thomas, Dr. Carole J. Ott, Dr. Carl G. Harris, Jr., and Mr. Royzell Dillard.
A versatile voice that performs both as a baritone and countertenor, Dr. Garrett has sung with several community, church, and university groups as both a chorister and soloist. He was the baritone soloist for the Germantown Concert Chorus’s performance of Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis. His premiere as a countertenor in Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo served as the work’s European premiere in Limerick, Ireland. Additionally, he performed the role of Lil Lud in Bernstein’s White House Cantata with the Tallahassee Community Chorus. Currently, he sings with the Festival Singers of Florida and Jason Max Ferdinand Singers.
Dr. Garrett is an avid composer of choral and solo-vocal music whose compositions have been performed to acclaim by high school all-state, collegiate, and professional choirs including Seraphic Fire, the Oakwood University Aeolians, and the National Lutheran Choir. His music is available through more than ten publishers. He has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Youth Choir, Concordia Choir, Harvard University, Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, and Westminster Choir College. Among his latest commissions is his largest work to date, Dreamland: Tulsa 1921. This collaborative work with librettist Sandra Seaton for tenor-bass chorus, soloists, and chamber orchestra was commissioned by the Turtle Creek Chorale to tell the story of the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
As a researcher, his most advantageous topic is the non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers. His lectures at state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and at other local and national venues afford him the opportunity to showcase this underrepresented area of music resulting in the anthology The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers released in February 2023. His peer-reviewed presentations and headlining events for conferences and organizations have been in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Canada. He serves as co-editor of the “Out from the Shadows” Series with Gentry Publications.
Chorus America recognized Dr. Garrett’s contributions to the choral community with the 2023 Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award. He holds membership in the American Choral Directors Association; American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers; National Association of Negro Musicians; National Collegiate Choral Organization; and Pi Kappa Lambda. For more information, visit www.mlagmusic.com. (Updated October 15, 2024)