Dr. Mark A. Whitmire

Dr. Mark Whitmire is Professor of Music at Northern Virginia Community College-Alexandria, and Director of the NOVA Community Chorus. He has conducted choirs throughout the region, including performances at The National Theater, The Kennedy Center and Washington National Cathedral. Dr. Whitmire has received numerous grants and awards, including a scholarship for post-graduate studies at the Britten-Pears School in England (where he studied with Sir Peter Pears), and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for research and writing on the music of Benjamin Britten. He was named “Outstanding Faculty of the Year” by the college in 1999 and again in 2010. In 2004 he was awarded the “President's Sabbatical,” the highest honor given by the college. Dr. Whitmire was conductor-in-residence at Gloucester Cathedral in 2003 and returned to England in 2006 to conduct at Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral. In summer 2008 he conducted the NOVA Community Chorus in performances at the Leipzig Choral Festival in Germany. In summer 2010 he led a concert tour of France, including performances at the American Cathedral in Paris, La Madeleine (Paris), Chartres Cathedral, Rouen Cathedral, and Notre Dame, Paris. Dr. Whitmire attended Abilene Christian University, the University of Texas, and the University of Maryland, where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Music and Liturgy at Virginia Theological Seminary.