Profile

Connecticut native Scott Perkins (he/him) enjoys a multifaceted career as an international prize-winning composer of vocal music, an award-winning scholar, and a dynamic educator. His “beautifully crafted” (American Record Guide) and “tightly composed” (Choral Journal) compositions have been called “dramatic” and “colorful” (The Washington Post), and “perfectly orchestrated” and “haunting” (The Washington Times). He has been commissioned by organizations ranging from the Washington National Opera to the Cantata Singers to the American Guild of Organists, and his work has been performed throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. He has released three discs on the Gothic and Navona labels, and he is published by E. C. Schirmer, Augsburg Fortress, and Paraclete Press. He has been an invited guest lecturer on his music and research at Harvard University, the University of Chicago, The Hartt School, Boston University, Louisiana State University, the University of the Pacific, and the European Centre of Education and Culture.

Perkins’s recent and current compositions have been extended works that support and illuminate the words of contemporary authors on themes of social justice, environmentalism, and mental health. His style can be characterized by its lyricism, modal influences, tonal centricity, and metric flexibility.

Perkins’s research interests are diverse. He has presented on: the integration of Western and non-Western music in musicianship curricula at conferences of the College Music Society and the Society of Arts Entrepreneurship Educators; teaching music-reading skills to amateur choirs at a convention of the American Guild of Organists at Yale University; and 17th-century lute song performance practice. He gave the keynote address and a paper on the history and reception of Olivier Messiaen’s work in the United States as part of the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the premiere of the Quartet for the End of Time in Zgorzelec, Poland. His work on the music of Benjamin Britten was awarded a prize by the New York State-St. Lawrence Chapter of the American Musicological Society.

A passionate believer that music has the power to better humanity, Perkins’s mission since he began teaching music over 20 years ago has been to inspire students by bringing them a deeper understanding, appreciation, and love of the art. Perkins is Director of the School of Music at California State University, Sacramento, where he was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award for University Service. Previously, Perkins served as Head of Composition, Music Theory, and Musicianship at Sacramento State, and as Co-Director of its Festival of New American Music (FeNAM). He has also taught at DePauw University, Central Connecticut State University, Nazareth College, and the Interlochen Summer Arts Academy.

Perkins earned his PhD in Composition with minors in music theory and music history at the Eastman School of Music, where his primary teacher was Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. He holds an MA in Music Theory and an MA in Music Theory Pedagogy from Eastman, and he has a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in music theory and composition with a sub-concentration in vocal performance from Boston University. He has also studied Hindustani music with Saili Oak, the acclaimed North Indian classical vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana, and Arabic music with the international prize-winning qanun virtuoso and vocalist Ali Paris. Perkins is proud to serve on the Advisory Board of the Mandarins of Sacramento and the Board of Directors of Friends of Sacramento Arts, both of which are leading advocacy organizations for music education in the Greater Sacramento area.