Eric Nelson is the director of choral studies at Emory and artistic director of the Atlanta Master Chorale. Dr. Nelson’s choirs have performed throughout the world, including London, Rome, Krakow, Berlin, Leipzig, Prague, Moscow, Seoul, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Sydney Opera House. He has conducted choirs at eight American Choral Directors Association conventions, including Atlanta Master Chorale’s performance at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis for the National Convention in 2017, and the Emory Concert Choir’s performance at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall for the National Convention in 2011.

Dr. Nelson’s ensembles are characterized by the performance of repertoire in a wide variety of styles and for their ability to fuse technical precision with warmth of musical expression. He appears regularly as clinician, lecturer, and guest conductor for honor choirs, conventions, symposiums, workshops, and all-state choral festivals. Nelson is also past president of the GA ACDA.

In the summer of 2016, to the astonishment of all who know him, he appeared with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones at Bobby Dodd Stadium, leading the Concert Choir in the classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Dr. Nelson’s choral compositions and arrangements are sung regularly by ensembles throughout the United States. He is the editor of the “Atlanta Master Chorale Choral Series,” a division of Morningstar Music Publishers and ECSchirmer. His compositions are also published by Colla Voce and Augsburg Fortress. He holds degrees in voice and conducting from Houghton College, Westminster Choir College, and Indiana University.

Jonathan Easter is a graduate of Emory, where he studied with Timothy Albrecht and Eric Nelson and earned a double master’s degree. Easter now serves as director of fine arts and organist at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in midtown Atlanta where he oversees a program of adults, children, handbells, brass, and drama. In addition to his responsibilities at St. Mark’s, Easter also works throughout the Emory music community accompanying the Emory University Chorus, Concert Choir, as well as the Atlanta Master Chorale under the direction of Eric Nelson.

Recent highlights include co-conducting the featured ensemble for the Atlanta Rolling Stones concert; accompanying Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano, for recitals at All Saints’ Episcopal Church; serving as worship service organist for the Southeastern Regional Convention of the American Choral Directors Association; and serving as an accompanist and co-presenter at the American Guild of Organists convention in Charlotte.

Easter has an undergraduate degree from Shorter College where he studied with Peter Dewitt and Helen Ramsaur.