Barbara Tagg

Barbara M. Tagg is an instructor of music at the Syracuse University Setnor School of Music. She is a member of the music education faculty and conductor of the SU Women’s Choir. She is a frequent guest conductor of treble choirs, and throughout her career she has presented master classes and workshops in the United States, Great Britain, Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, and China. She has premiered over 90 treble choir works by distinguished composers from the United States, England, Canada, and China. Dr. Tagg is founder and director emeritus of the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, an organization she led for 30 years. Her first book Before the Singing: Structuring Children's Choirs for Success will be released in March 2013 by Oxford University Press.

Committed to the advancement of the American choral profession, Dr. Tagg served on the national board of directors of Chorus America and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). For ACDA she chaired the National Committee on Children’s Choirs and was the first elected National Chair of Choral Repertoire and Standards. Her publications include serving as guest editor of three issues of The Choral Journal devoted to children’s choirs, repertoire and standards, and American choral music, as well as numerous articles. She is an organizational consultant to nonprofit children’s choirs in the United States and Canada.

Recognized for her dedication to American music and new compositions, Dr. Tagg was awarded two ASCAP Chorus America awards for adventuresome programming. She conducted the annual Keynote Arts Associates children’s choir festivals in Orlando, Florida, for 17 years and was conductor of the Adirondack Children's Chorus at the Adirondack Festival of American Music in Saranac Lake, New York, for over 20 years. She is an honorary member of the Ernst Bacon Foundation, a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, and has been honored by ACDA, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse University, Syracuse Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Post Standard, Civic Morning Musicals, and Sigma Alpha Iota for her commitment to musical excellence, music education, and the choral art.