Dr. Shannon Jeffreys

Georgia Southern University
​Director of Choral Activities
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Shannon Jeffreys is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the Georgia Southern University Gretsch School of Music in Statesboro, Georgia. Her focus is the Southern Chorale, teaching in the undergraduate and graduate conducting and music education curriculums, along with directing Southern Gentry barbershop ensemble. Dr. Jeffreys maintains an active schedule as a presenter, adjudicator, lecturer, and guest conductor from secondary to collegiate institutions throughout the United States. She serves as an international choral adjudicator with Meeting Music and on the faculty of Harmony University with the Barbershop Harmony Society.
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Choirs under Jeffreys’ direction have been featured on multiple state, national, and international conventions, most recently performing at the National Collegiate Choral Organization’s National Conference. Internationally, Southern Chorale has won prizes and received acclaim at prestigious competitions in Austria, Hungary, the United States and Germany, including the famous International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany. In 2019, Dr. Jeffreys received the Conductor’s Award from the Ave Verum International Choral Competition in Baden, Austria.

Before coming to Georgia Southern, Jeffreys served as Director of Vocal Studies at Erskine College and Theological Seminary. She holds degrees in music performance and conducting from Birmingham Southern College, the University of Mississippi, and the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Nicholaus Cummins

Mississippi State University
​Director of Choral Activities
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Nicholaus B. Cummins is the Director of Choral Studies at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi, where he conducts the Mississippi State University Singers and OPUS (TTBB ensemble) and teaches conducting and vocal music education methods.  He holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Mississippi, a Master of Arts from the University of Alabama, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University.

Before joining the faculty at Mississippi State University, Dr. Cummins served as Director of Choral Studies at Northwestern State University. Under his direction, the Northwestern Chamber Choir achieved notable recognition, including performances at the 2024 Southern Region ACDA Conference and the 9th National Collegiate Choral Organization National Conference at the University of Maryland. The choir also earned distinctions such as Summa Cum Laude at the Laurea Mundi Choral Competition in Budapest, Hungary, 2nd place in the Ave Verum Competition in Baden, Austria, and 2nd place in the Leonardo da Vinci Choral Competition in Florence, Italy. Dr. Cummins has collaborated on two album recordings with composers Michael Trotta (ECS Publishing) and Richard Burchard (Centaur Records) and has commissioned new choral works from composers Vytautas Miškinis and John August Pamintuan.

Dr. Cummins is actively involved in presenting at regional and state conferences throughout the US. He has also served on the regional Southern ACDA board as Collegiate Chair and continues to serve on the board of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. He was previously honored as an ACDA International Conducting Fellow in Brazil and will be conducting the 2025 South Carolina TTBB All-State Choir.

He is a member of several professional and honor organizations including the American Choral Directors Association, the National Association for Teachers of Singing, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, the College Music Society, the National Association for Music Education, Pi Kappa Lambda, and the International Choral Music Federation.

Dr. Betsy Cook Weber

University of Houston
​Professor Emerita, Director of Choral Studies, & Artistic Director Designate of Houston Chamber Choir

Betsy Cook Weber is active internationally as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer. In the summer of 2013, Weber became the thirteenth person and first woman to receive the Texas Choral Director Association's coveted Texas Choirmaster Award. She is editor of the Betsy Cook Weber Choral Series with Alliance Music Publishing. Weber also served for eight seasons as Director of the Houston Symphony Chorus, during which time she prepared choral-orchestral masterworks for some of the world's greatest conductors, including Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Christoph Eschenbach, Juraj Valcuha, Jane Glover, and Nicholas McGegan among many others. Choirs under Weber's direction, including the Moores School Concert Chorale, have been featured at multiple state (TMEA 2002, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2017) and national conventions including the American Choral Directors Association national convention in Miami in 2007 and Minneapolis in 2017. Concert Chorale was also the featured choir at the national convention of the National Collegiate Choral Organization in the fall of 2017.

​Internationally, Weber has led Chorale to top prizes and acclaim at prestigious competitions in Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Norway. Weber has prepared singers early music orchestras Ars Lyrica and Mercury Houston, and is also routinely called upon to prepare singers for touring shows, including Josh Groban, NBC's Clash of the Choirs, Telemundo's Latin Grammys, Star Wars in Concert, Andreas Bocelli, Legends of Zelda, It's a Wonderful World, Dreamworks, and Final Fantasy. Before coming to the University of Houston, Weber taught vocal music (K-12) in the public schools. She holds degrees from the University of North Texas, Westminster Choir College, and the University of Houston.