Tucker Biddlecombe

Tucker Biddlecombe (Ph.D.) is professor of choral studies and associate dean for undergraduate education at Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, where he conducts the Vanderbilt Chorale and teaches courses in conducting and music education. In addition, Biddlecombe is embarking on his eighth season as Director of the Nashville Symphony Chorus, the vocal arm of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

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. Biddlecombe founded the Vanderbilt Choral Scholars, an annual summer project immersing a cohort of students in cathedral choirs throughout the United Kingdom. He has conducted honor choruses in ten states, two concerts at Carnegie Hall, and in 2022 conducted the UCTB honor choir for the Southern Region of the American Choral Directors Association. International engagements have included guest conducting in the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and a residency with the Central Conservatory in Beijing. He is a recipient of the Blair Faculty Excellence Award.

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 2024-2025 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.

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.