TLU - Texas Lutheran University

Averitt, a native of Paducah, Kentucky, received the B.M. in Composition from Murray (KY) State University and the M.M. and D.M. in Composition from the Florida State University through an N.D.E.A. Fellowship. Mr. Averitt is the composer of numerous works which have received performances throughout the United States and in Western Europe, Russia and Asia. He has received several composer fellowships, grants and commissions from a wide variety of sources.

 

Averitt’s 1991 score Afro-American Fragments was the winning work of the 1992 Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies Choral Composition Competition. This score has been performed by a number of professional choruses including Conspirare, the Washington Singers (Paul Hill), the Desert Chorale, the New Texas Festival, the Air Force Singing Sergeants, Kantorei (Denver, CO), Winchester Musica Viva and by numerous university choruses such as those at the University of South Carolina, the Cleveland Institute, the New England Conservatory and California State University at Los Angeles. In the Spring 1996, Afro-American Fragments was the featured work performed by the Connecticut High School All-state Chorus. In 2004, Conspirare released three movements of Afro-American Fragments as part of their acclaimed CD . . . through the green fuse . . .

 

Averitt also has been active as a conductor. He was Founder and, for ten seasons, Music Director of WInchester Musica Viva, a community-based professional-level chamber choir. In December 1988, he was presented the first annual “Artie” Award for Excellence in Music by the Shenandoah Arts Council as a reflection of his work with this ensemble in the Winchester area. He was Founder/Music Director of Consort of Voices in 1995-96. From 1981 to 1987, he was Conductor of Orchestras and Opera at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University.

 

Dr. Averitt is Professor of Music and Coordinator of Composition at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia where he has been on the faculty since 1973.