Wendy K. Moy
Setnor School of Music
Assistant Professor, Music Education
Moy teaches undergraduate and graduate coursework in music education, conducting, rehearsal techniques, and choral literature, and directs the Concert Choir in the Setnor School of Music.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Moy was an associate professor of music at Connecticut College from 2013-2020, where she was the director of choral activities and head of music education. From 2012-2013, she was an instructor at Tacoma Community College, serving as the director of choral activities and teaching courses in music education. Before moving to the East Coast, Moy conducted the University of Washington Women’s Chorus and the Seattle Pacific University Chamber Singers. She also taught orchestra, choir, and jazz choir at the secondary level in the Edmonds School District from 1999-2010. Her ensembles were invited to perform at the Northwest Music Educators and Washington Music Educators Association Conferences.
Moy is the co-founder and co-artistic director of the professional chamber ensemble, Chorosynthesis Singers. They recently released on the Centaur Records label Empowering Silenced Voices, a 2-CD collection of new music on themes of social consciousness and established the Empowering Silenced Voices Database for Socially Conscious Choral Music. A strong advocate for collaboration and new music, Moy has premiered and commissioned numerous new works. She also sings soprano in Chorosynthesis Singers and 21V. Moy has also served as the director of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus and the artistic director of the Hartford Gay Men’s Chorus. A violinist since age four, she was a violin coach, chamber music coordinator, and assistant conductor with the Cascade Youth Symphony Organization. Moy studied orchestral conducting with Eric Hanson and Kenneth Kiesler and made her debut with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Moy is a frequent clinician and guest conductor with ensembles of all levels. Passionate about mentoring and inspiring young musicians, she has conducted the Rhode Island All-State Senior High School Chorus, Massachusetts All State Choir, New York Zone 2 Senior High Area All State Treble Choir, Connecticut Eastern Region High School Honor Choir, Heartland High School Honor Choir, Northshore Junior High Honor Orchestra, and Edmonds Elementary Honor Choir. Selected as an American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) International Conducting Fellow, Moy made her international conducting debut with the Coral da Universidade Federal da Gazzi de Sá at the Festival Paraibano de Coros in João Pessoa, Brazil. She soon followed this with her Asia conducting debut in Shenzhen, China. In 2024, Moy returned to João Pessoa as the Festival Paraibano de Coros headliner. She is looking forward to her Carnegie Hall conducting debut in May 2025.
Moy's research focuses on the culture of singing communities, cultivating social capital in successful choral organizations, and fostering belonging through socially conscious music. She has presented her research at national conferences sponsored by the ACDA; Chorus America, National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference; College Music Society; GALA Choruses; National Association for Music Education (NAfME); and the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research. Oxford University Press published her ethnographic study on the Seattle Men’s Chorus in "Together in Music: Coordination, Expression, Participation." Routledge will soon release her book "Resurrecting Song: A Pathway Forward for the Choral Art in the Time of Pandemics." She writes for the NAfME Music in a Minuet blog and has been interviewed for featured articles in the Choral Journal, The Voice of Chorus America, the Classical Singer Magazine, and Teaching Music Journal on entrepreneurship and culture-building in the choral arts.
Moy's honors include being selected to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities Bach Institute in Germany, the Westminster Chamber Choir with Joe Miller, the Tallis Scholar Summer School with Peter Phillips, the Carnegie Hall Choral Institute/Transient Glory Symposium as a conducting associate with Francisco Nuñez, and the Yale/Norfolk Chamber Choir under the direction of Simon Carrington. She was named the third place winner of The American Prize in Choral Conducting, professional division in 2017. Under her co-direction, Chorosynthesis Singers was named the second place winner of The American Prize in Choral Performance, professional division, with a special citation for Extraordinary Commitment to New Music in 2018.
Moy serves on the ACDA Standing Committee on International Activities and the New York ACDA Research and Resource Board as research co-chair. She evaluates grants for the National Endowment for the Arts and Chorus America. Moy holds a bachelor of arts degree in music education (vocal/choral and instrumental emphasis) from Seattle Pacific University, a master of music education degree from Westminster Choir College, and a doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting (music education cognate) from the University of Washington.