Stephen A. Paparo
Associate Professor, Music Education, Choral Conductor
Dr. Stephen A. Paparo is Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and conductor of the University Chorale. He holds degrees from Michigan State University (Ph.D.), Syracuse University (M.M.), and Ithaca College (B.M.), and is a Guild Certified Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education. As a former public school teacher, he taught junior and senior high school choral music for ten years in New Hartford, New York, and earned National Board Certification in 2002.
Active as a guest conductor, Dr. Paparo has conducted all-state and honor choirs at all levels in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. He has presented at international, national, and state conferences, including the International Symposium on Performance Science (Kyoto, Japan), The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium (St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada), and at American Choral Directors Association National and Eastern Division Conferences. He has served on the board of the Massachusetts chapter for the American Choral Directors Association as Student Activities chair (2012-2017), as President (2017-2020), and currently as Past-President (2020-2023). He is a member of the editorial board for the International Journal of Research on Choral Singing.
His research interests include the application of the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education to singing instruction in the choral setting, non-traditional choral ensembles, such as contemporary collegiate a cappella, virtual choirs, and circle singing groups, and LGBTQ+ studies in music education. His peer-reviewed research studies are published in the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, International Journal of Music Education, International Journal of Research in Choral Singing, Music Education Research, and Research Studies in Music Education. He has contributed chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Music Performance (Oxford University Press), Meanings of Music Participation: Scenarios from the United States (Routledge), Somatic Voice in Performance Research and Beyond (Routledge), and Musicianship: Composing in Choir (GIA Publications). His compositions, “Sing in Harmony!” and “A Musical Pun-ology” for beginning choirs, are published by Alfred Music.