Dr. Amanda Quist is Associate Professor and Chair of the Conducting, Organ, and Sacred Music Department at Westminster Choir College. She conducts the Westminster Chapel Choir and Westminster Kantorei, and she teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting. She is the recipient of Westminster Choir College of Rider University’s 2014 Distinguished Teaching Award. Westminster Kantorei, an award-winning early music ensemble, has been invited to perform at the American Choral Directors Association’s (ACDA) Eastern Division Conference, American Handel Festival, and it has collaborated with some of the country’s leading Baroque specialists. During her work with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, Dr. Quist collaborated with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, and composers Ola Gjeilo and Tarik O’Regan. She recently served as Chorus Master for the premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s opera Matsukaze at the Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center Festival. The New York Times and Charleston City Paper described the chorus’ performance as “beautifully prepared, gripping,” a “gossamer web of voices” and “bridging the vocal and instrumental textures with perfect intonation.”

Dr. Quist is also director of the Westminster Vocal Institute, a highly regarded summer program for talented high school students, and she was previously Director of Choral Activities at San José State University. Her other honors include the prestigious James Mulholland National Choral Award and the Audrey Davidson Early Music Award. Her research focus is voice science and pedagogy in choral singing, and she recently presented an interest session for the National ACDA Conference in Salt Lake City titled “Building Sound and Spirit.” An active guest conductor and clinician, her recent and upcoming appearances include the All State High School Honor Choirs of Texas, California, Tennessee, Vermont and Delaware, as well as the Georgia All-College Honor Choir, and guest conducting/adjudicating in Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, and Michigan. An active mezzo-soprano, Dr. Quist has performed professionally with the St. Ignatius of Antioch choir and choir of St. Mary the Virgin Times Square in Manhattan, Fuma Sacra, Princeton Pro Musica, Princeton University, Monmouth Civic Chorus, Symphony Silicon Valley, and others. She serves as the National ACDA Repertoire &Resources Coordinator for Collegiate Activities.