The Jamie Spillane Award honors an individual whose sustained service and leadership have significantly advanced the mission, vision, and vitality of the American Choral Directors Association. The award recipient demonstrates a long-standing commitment to ACDA at the local, state, regional, and/or national levels through volunteer leadership, mentorship, advocacy, and professional excellence. In addition, they exemplify strong character and integrity through the creation of new ACDA offerings, initiatives and events, serve as a dedicated champion for the choral arts, and embody innovation, mentorship, and a commitment to artistic growth. This award is named for its first recipient. Dr. Jamie Spillane is a past- President and Collegiate Chair for Connecticut ACDA and President- Elect for ACDA East. He is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Connecticut. In every capacity he serves, Jamie brings a philosophy of “cheerful flexibility” and “easy joy” as he ensures that all choral stakeholders feel a sense of belonging within the organization, and that they can benefit from ACDA.
Dr. Jamie Spillane is Director of Choral Studies at the University of Connecticut where he oversees a choral program with seven choirs, directs the UConn Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, and teaches undergraduate through doctoral choral conducting and choral literature classes. Dr. Spillane’s research lies in the study of choral festival music and his articles have appeared in the ACDA Choral Journal. Recent acclaimed performances of UConn Choirs include conducting a collaboration of performances of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard throughout New England with CONCORA; the world premiere of Steven Sametz’s A Child’s Requiem, a work on the Sandy Hook tragedy; and a performance of World O World with Jacob Collier.
A highly sought-after festival conductor, choral clinician, and adjudicator, Dr. Spillane has conducted All-State and honor choirs throughout the United States from Arizona to New Hampshire. He made his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in 2016 and has returned multiple times, most recently in March of 2024 with National Concerts. Recently he has conducted the Connecticut All-State Mixed Chorus as well as the Indiana All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble.
Prior to his collegiate career, Dr. Spillane taught public school music in Puerto Rico and Fairfield, Connecticut and for many years he was chair of the Ledyard High School Music Department in Ledyard, Connecticut. At Ledyard he directed a choral program that grew to include over four hundred singers performing in ten award-winning choirs that was twice selected as a Grammy Signature School as one of the top schools for music education in the United States. These choirs performed throughout America and Europe and at state and division conferences of ACDA and MENC/NAfME.
In addition to his tenure at UConn, Dr. Spillane previously taught at the University of Arizona; served as Director of Choral Activities at Iowa Wesleyan College, where he was honored as the Chadwick Teacher of the Year; and was also Director of Choral Activities at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. At UConn, Dr. Spillane was awarded the School of Fine Arts New Scholar Award and UConn Choirs tour overseas every two years having been heard in Europe’s most beloved performing spaces from Ireland to Italy.
Dr. Spillane studied conducting under Dr. Bruce Chamberlain, Dr. Peter Bagley, Lawrence Doebler, Helmut Rilling, and Robert Page, and his students have gone on to teaching and leadership positions at schools and universities throughout the nation. Former students sing with some of the most prestigious choral organizations including Cantus, Chanticleer, the U.S. Army Chorus, Voce, Concora, Elevation, and Highline Vocal Jazz.
Dr. Spillane holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College, a Master of Music Education from the University of Connecticut, and a DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona where he taught undergraduate conducting and directed the Symphonic Choir, the premier undergraduate choir. He has been very active in leadership roles of ACDA and MENC/NAfME, serving as the President of Connecticut Chapter of ACDA, Conference Chair for the Iowa Choral Directors Association, Region Director and Student Advisory Board for CMEA, as well as on the NAfME – National Advisory Board for Choral Music Education and the Editorial Board for E.C. Schirmer Music. He was selected as CT-ACDA Choral Director of the Year in 2015, was honored with the CT-ACDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025, and most recently served as President-Elect of ACDA East.