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The American choral conductor, music pedagogue and composer, Paul David Weber, studied at Concordia College in New York (A.A., 1969); Concordia Senior College (Ind.) (Bachelor of Arts, 1971); Washington University in St. Louis (Master of Music degree in Organ and Composition, 1974; Concordia Seminary in St. Louis (1971-1973); Christ Seminary - Seminex (M.Div. 1975; degree granted by The Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago); Yale University School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music (M.M., 1977, and M.M.A. in Composition, 1979); The University of Iowa, D.M.A. in Choral Conducting (1988). He was ordained on July 29, 1979 at Salem Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Paul Weber served two congregations in western Pennsylvania: Holy Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, (Slovak-Zion Synod) (1979-1986), and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hermitage (Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod) (1989-1996). He then received Special Call from the North Carolina Synod (ELCA) to teach at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. He taught there for twenty years (1996-2016) and conducted the A Cappella and Chapel Choirs, and, along with his wife Florence Jowers, founded the sacred music program. He is now Professor Emeritus of Church Music. Other posts: Instructor in Music, Concordia College–New York (1973-1974); Interim Associate Pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Postville, Iowa (1987-1988); Visiting Director of Choral Activities, The College of Idaho, (January-May, 1989); Adjunct Instructor in Music at Thiel College (1989-1995); Publications Advisor, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (2013-2014); Member-At-Large, National Board, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians; Member, Reformation 500 Task Force of the North Carolina Synod (2015-2017); Choral Clinician and Conductor for regional and national gatherings of musicians and pastors; Producer, “Evangelical Lutheran Worship: Hymns Audio Edition, Volume 2,” (Augsburg Fortress) and other Lenoir-Rhyne University A Cappella Choir CD's. He now serves as Interim Pastor at Muhlenberg Lutheran Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Paul Weber is also a published, award-winning composer whose music is found in Lutheran hymnals. His musical compositions include: Liturgical responses & Hymns in Evangelical Lutheran Worship and Lutheran Service Book; Choral and Organ Compositions published by Augsburg Fortress, Concordia Publishing House, and MorningStar Music Publishers; majority of choral compositions and hymns remain unpublished.
Scholarly Achievements: Master’s Thesis, Charles Ives and Nineteenth Century American Church Music, cited extensively in “The Organist in Ives” by J. Peter Burkholder, Journal of the American Musicological Society 2002, vol. 55, no. 2; Contributor to the Hymnal Companion of the Lutheran Service Book (CPH).
Honors: Distinguished Alumnus, Concordia College–New York (May 2011); Distinguished Alumnus, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (April 2011; Roediger Distinguished Service Professorship (2005-2006), Lenoir-Rhyne University; Raabe Prize for Excellence in Sacred Composition (2003), Association of Lutheran Church Musicians; First-Place Winner (1995 & 1997), Association of Lutheran Church Musicians’ National Composition Contest; Winner (1988) St. Olaf Hymn Competition.
Member: Association of Lutheran Church Musicians; American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers; American Choral Directors Association. He currently lives in Staunton, Virginia. |
