Chorus Director

Appointed as director of the Nashville Symphony Chorus in 2016, Dr. Tucker Biddlecombe has raised the bar of excellence for Nashville’s premier choral ensemble through intense musical preparation, diverse programming, and community-building. He also serves as Professor of Choral Studies and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where he directs the Vanderbilt Chorale and teaches courses in choral conducting and music education.

His work with the Nashville Symphony has included chorus preparation for many of the repertoire’s most revered masterworks. Notable performances have included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”, Requiems by Mozart and Verdi, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. He has prepared the chorus for two major world-premiere recordings, John Harbison’s Requiem (rel. 2018, Naxos) as well as the upcoming release of Gabriela Lena-Frank’s Conquest Requiem and Antonio Estevez’s Cantata Criolla. In 2024/25 he is delighted to be conducting Vivaldi’s Gloria and Handel’s Messiah, as well as preparing the chorus for Mahler’s mammoth Symphony No. 8.

Performance highlights at Blair have included Britten’s War Requiem, Requiems by Mozart and Brahms, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and multiple collaborations with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. He has conducted honor choruses in ten states, two concerts at Carnegie Hall, and international engagements in the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and China. Biddlecombe is a graduate of SUNY Potsdam and Florida State University, where he completed studies in choral conducting and music education with Daniel Gordon and André Thomas, respectively. He resides in Nashville with his wife Mary Biddlecombe, director of the Blair Academy at Vanderbilt, and Artistic Director of Vanderbilt Youth Choirs.