Meet Dr. David McNeil, Jr.
Degrees and Experience
- D.M.A., Choral Conducting (Yale University)
- M.M. (Indiana University)
- B.A. (Trinity International University)
Biography and Professional Achievements
Dr. David McNeil joined the faculty of the School of Music as Director of Choral Studies in 2018. Other current professional engagements include serving as the Artistic Director of the Vittoria Ensemble, a Denver-based chamber choir specializing in early music; and as Choir Director/Worship Leader at Rockland Community Church in Golden, Colorado. McNeil regularly leads performances by CCU ensembles across the Front Range, Colorado, and the United States, and is an active choral clinician and guest conductor.
After earning a bachelor's degree in music education k-12 from Trinity International University (Deerfield, Illinois), McNeil taught for five years at a Christian school in the north suburbs of Chicago, where chaired the Fine Arts department, taught junior and senior high school choir, band, and drama, as well as elementary general music and choir.
While pursuing a master's in choral conducting at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, McNeil was employed directing or assisting with a variety of ensembles, including the Symphonic Choir, All Campus Choir, University Chorale, and the Opera Chorus. He also served as the choir director for St. Paul UMC in Bloomington, Indiana. Prior to joining the CCU faculty, while completing his coursework at Yale and in addition to his own recitals, McNeil held appointments as the assistant director of the Yale Glee Club, co-conductor of the Marquand Chapel Choir, and principal assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata. His thesis research focused on the musical-political interpretation of Henry Purcell's anthems. His teachers have included Dominick DiOrio, Walter Huff, Betsy Burleigh, Jeffrey Douma, Marguerite Brooks, David Hill, and Masaaki Suzuki. McNeil's other musical interests include new music, music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the practice of continuo realization.
McNeil and his wife, Chelsey, along with their five children, reside in Wheat Ridge.