From: Chattanooga, Tennessee. LA Opera: To Harlem with Love (world premiere as part of Russell Thomas's recital on February 25, 2023)
Dave Ragland is a four-time Emmy nominated composer, vocalist, pianist, and conductor. Hailed as “über-talented” by The Nashville Scene, he received an Emmy nomination for composition and music direction for Frist Art Museum’s Nick Cave: Feat. Nashville. He received a second Emmy nomination for I'm Troubled, a musical collaboration with Nashville Ballet’s Gerald Watson and violinist Chandler Custer.
Dave Ragland arranged "Lift Every Voice and Sing" for tenor Lawrence Brownlee for Washington National Opera's Concert for Inauguration Day. In Nashville Opera's first ever commission, he collaborated with librettist Mary McCallum to create One Vote Won, an opera commemorating the centennial of women's suffrage. In collaboration with Inversion Vocal Ensemble, shackled feet DANCE!, and Diaspora Orchestra, he premiered his opera Steal Away as Artist-in-Residence for OZ Arts. Additional compositional credits include works for the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Ballet, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, chatterbird, Intersection Contemporary Ensemble, and Grammy-nominated ALIAS Chamber Ensemble.
For the past three seasons, he has served as chorus master for Nashville Symphony's Let Freedom Sing. He is the 2020 GRADY-RAYAM Negro Spirituals Foundation Composer-in Residence. He is a member of the inaugural cohort of composers for the National Teachers of Singing (NATS) Mentoring Program.
He is the Artistic Director of Inversion Vocal Ensemble, a regionally touring vocal collective that has performed with Brandi Carlile, Grammy nominee Ruby Amanfu, Marcus Hummon and Levi Hummon. Inversion has also shared the stage with Rivers Rutherford, The Fairfield Four, and Tanya Tucker. Previous engagements with Inversion include the National Civil Rights Museum, the National Museum of African-American Music, the Ryman Auditorium, Tennessee Arts Academy, Cheekwood, Nashville Symphony’s Free Day of Music and Let Freedom Sing in 2019.
Dave was a Composer Mentor for 91Classical's inaugural Student Composer Fellowship. He serves on the board of American Choral Directors Association, Tennessee Chapter, and is a proud member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Learn more at DaveRagland.com.
