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Conductor

Scott Glysson, Associate Professor

Director of Choral Activities and Vocal Studies, Conducting
Davidson Music Center, Room 218B
sglysson@calpoly.edu, 805-756-1548

Scott Glysson is director of choral activities and vocal studies at Cal Poly. He has been recognized for his achievements in conducting in both the choral and orchestral genres. As the conductor of university, high school and community ensembles, he performs both nationally and internationally. His conducting engagements include leading orchestras and choirs in more than15 countries and on 5 continents, as well as multiple engagements in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City. Under his leadership at Cal Poly, his groups have performed at both state and regional American Choral Directors Association Conferences (ACDA).

In 2017 Glysson was awarded the ACDA International Conducting Fellowship to Kenya, and has since served as clinician and co-founder of the bi-annual Nairobi Choral Conducting Workshop. As a graduate student, he was honored as one of eight finalists from across the country to compete in the National Choral Conducting Competition sponsored by the ACDA. Glysson was a recipient of Cal Poly’s Distinguished Teaching Award for the 2024-25 academic year. It's awarded based on nominations made by students, with final selection by faculty colleagues from across the university.

Glysson previously served as director of choral activities at West Liberty University in Wheeling, West Virginia. He has also held the position of artistic director and conductor of the Tucson Masterworks Chorale, assistant director of the internationally recognized Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, assistant conductor of the Reston Chorale and teaching positions at several high schools in the Washington, D.C., area.

An active scholar and educator, Glysson has presented and published in the fields of music education and musicology. In 2011, he was honored by the invitation to present his research on the motets of the medieval composer Guillaume de Machaut at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Musicological Society. He has published featured articles in The Choral Journal and presented at both state and regional conferences of ACDA and National Association for Music Education in the area of music education. Glysson’s dissertation and current research centers on the choral motets of Camille Saint-Saëns and the 19th-century cecilian movement.

Glysson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He also holds a Master of Music in choral conducting from the University of Arizona, and a Bachelor of Music in music education from George Mason University.