A Virginia native, Dr. Marques L. A. Garrett (he/him) is Associate Professor of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas. His responsibilities include conducting the University Singers and teaching graduate and undergraduate choral conducting. His previous appointments were at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Cheyney University. Additionally, he holds a PhD in Music Education (Choral Conducting) from Florida State University, an MM from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a BA from Hampton University.

An active conductor, Marques is the founding conductor of the Nebraska Festival Singers and previously served as artistic director of the Omaha Symphonic Chorus. He serves as a guest conductor or clinician with school, church, and community choirs throughout the country in addition to festival, honor, and all-state choirs in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Among his most recent engagements were with the Colorado, Michigan, and South Carolina All-State Mixed Choirs. In 2022, he and the UNL Chamber Singers won second place in the American Prize’s Choral Performance—College/University Division—Larger Program’s category. His formal conducting studies were with Dr. André J. Thomas, Dr. Carole J. Ott, Dr. Carl G. Harris, Jr., and Mr. Royzell Dillard.

A versatile voice that performs both as a baritone and countertenor, he has sung with several community, church, and university groups as both a chorister and soloist. He was the baritone soloist for the Germantown Concert Chorus’s performance of Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis. His premiere as a countertenor in Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo served as the work’s European premiere in Limerick, Ireland. Additionally, he performed the role of Lil Lud in Bernstein’s White House Cantata with the Tallahassee Community Chorus.

He is an avid composer of choral and solo-vocal music whose compositions have been performed to acclaim by high school all-state, collegiate, and professional choirs including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Oakwood University Aeolians, and National Lutheran Choir. His music is available through more than ten publishers. He has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Youth Choir, The Concordia Choir, Harvard University, Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, UNT A Cappella Choir, and Westminster Choir College. Among his latest commissions is his largest work to date, Dreamland: Tulsa 1921. This collaborative work with librettist Sandra Seaton for tenor-bass chorus, soloists, and chamber orchestra was commissioned by the Turtle Creek Chorale to tell the story of the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

As a researcher, his most advantageous topic is the non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers. His lectures at state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and at other local and national venues afford him the opportunity to showcase this underrepresented area of music resulting in the anthology The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers released in February 2023. His peer-reviewed presentations and headlining events for conferences and organizations have been in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Canada. He serves as co-editor of the “Out from the Shadows” Series with Gentry Publications.

Chorus America recognized Dr. Garrett’s contributions to the choral community with the 2023 Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award. He holds membership in the American Choral Directors Association; American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers; National Association of Negro Musicians; National Collegiate Choral Organization; and Pi Kappa Lambda. For more information, visit www.mlagmusic.com. 

Stacie Haneline is an internationally recognized collaborative pianist known for a remarkably versatile career encompassing classical, opera, symphonic, chamber, choral, Broadway, and contemporary performance. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and Converse College, she has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and South America. 

Her commitment to new music and underrepresented repertoire has shaped many of her most significant artistic collaborations. Performance highlights include Rosephanye Powell’s Hold Fast to Dreams with soprano Lisa Burr and violinist Naimi Burr; André Myers’ Surviving the Apocalypse with Dr. Jamie Reimer and Dr. Byron Jones at the African American Art Song Alliance; Clint Needham’s Voices with the Boston Symphony String Quartet and orchestra; the Zodiac Music Festival in Nice, France; the premiere of Leslie Adams’ Dunbar Songs with Gail Robinson-Oturu; Her longstanding collaboration with soprano Dr. Jamie Reimer has also centered on African American art song and the music of Robert Owens, whose legacy they have championed through performances, recordings, scholarly collaborations, and the Robert Owens Centenary Festival. Their recordings for Centaur Records have earned multiple American Prize Judges Awards in Chamber Music and Art Song. In 2024, the duo received the Gold Prize at the London Virtuoso Music Awards for their world-premiere recording of Shawn Okpebholo’s Words Like Freedom.

Stacie is the full-time collaborative pianist at the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska. An experienced educator and arts leader, Haneline is committed to mentorship, artistic collaboration, and developing partnerships that connect universities, professional arts organizations, schools, artists, and communities, creating meaningful opportunities for the next generation of musicians.