Prof. Scott Ferguson

United States of America

J. Scott Ferguson is Professor Emeritus at Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU), where he was Director of Choral Activities and the Fern Rosetta Sherff Professor of Music (2022-2024). During his tenure at IWU he conducted the Collegiate Choir, University Choir, and Chamber Singers and taught Applied Voice, Choral Conducting, Choral Literature, and Choral Methods. Dr. Ferguson received his undergraduate training at Oberlin Conservatory in organ performance, studying with Haskell Thomson. He completed graduate studies in choral conducting at the University of California, Irvine, earning the Master of Fine Arts, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts. He has studied choral conducting with Robert Fountain, Joseph Huszti, Daniel Moe, and Howard Swan, orchestral conducting with David Becker and James Smith, and voice with Robert Fountain, Joseph Huszti, and Beverly Rinaldi. Prior to his appointment at Illinois Wesleyan University in 1996, he served on the faculty at the State Conservatory of Music in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, Hope College, Plymouth State University, The College of Wooster, and the University of California, Irvine. His choirs have appeared on tour throughout the United States and Europe, and have performed at state and regional ACDA and NAfME conferences. Under Dr. Ferguson’s direction, the Illinois Wesleyan University Collegiate Choir was the first American collegiate choral ensemble with which the King’s Singers collaborated on a new composition written for the two ensembles and was the first American choral ensemble invited to perform at the renowned Woordfees cultural arts festival in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Dr. Ferguson is in demand as a choral clinician, festival conductor, and adjudicator, and has presented choral workshops and lectures in the United States, Europe, and South America. He has published articles on Slovak choral music in the ACDA Choral Journal and is the compiler and editor of the Slovak Choral Series, published by Alliance Publications. He is a frequent member of juries at international choral competitions. Dr. Ferguson also served as Director of Music at various churches throughout the United States from 1976-2024.