Dr. Vicki Bell, Director
Dr. Vicki Bell, Professor of Music Theory, joined the faculty of the Music Department at Asbury College in the fall of 1993. Dr. Bell serves as coordinator of music theory, and teaches freshman and sophomore music theory classes, sight singing / aural training, and upper-level counterpoint. In addition to her theory responsibilities, Dr. Bell directs the Collegium Musicum Vocal Ensemble, the youngest of Asbury’s choral groups. Dr. Bell was instrumental in the formation of the Vocal Ensemble in 2000, and has directed the group since its inception.
Dr. Bell is a native Kentuckian, and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Doctor of Philosophy in Music in 1998. During her Ph.D. coursework, she was awarded the Brumfield Choral Conducting Scholarship, and studied choral conducting with Dr. Roger Wesby. Her Ph.D. dissertation focused on the notational style of 19th century American Shaker songs.
Dr. Bell’s current research interests center on the use of dissonance in 16th century sacred choral music. In the fall of 2005, sabbatical studies took her Rome, where she was granted admission to the Vatican Library. She received special permission to view the manuscript scores of the Pope Marcellus Mass, written in the mid 16th century by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. In May of 2007, Dr. Bell led the Vocal Ensemble in a performance tour of Italy. The Vocal Ensemble provided anthems for Masses in the Basilicas of St. Peter and Santa Maria Maggiore, and concerts were given in Rome’s St. Ignatius Church and the Church of San Gaetano in Florence. The highlight of the tour was the joint concert in Palestrina with the Palestrina Voices, under the direction of Maestro Renzo Cilia, faculty member at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. Following the concert, a series of appreciative speeches was given on behalf of the Palestrina community, and a large plaque and a medallion embossed with the bust of Pierluigi were presented to Dr. Bell, along with a large bouquet of flowers.
In 2004, Dr. Bell assisted in the creation of a Pipe Organ Performance Series at Asbury College, established to make organ performances more accessible to the college and community, and to provide local organists with additional performance venues. She is now the coordinator for the series. She arranged for two of Asbury's organists, Nathan Davy (‘07) and Lisa Hall (‘07), to give an organ recital in Rome's Church of St. Paul’s Within the Walls as part of the Vocal Ensemble tour of Italy.
Dr. Bell's research interests extend to the performance realm as well; in the summer of 2007, Dr. Bell attended the Tallis Scholars Summer School led by Peter Phillips, conductor of the Tallis Scholars, and an eminent figure in the performance of Renaissance choral music. The school was devoted to the study and performance of the music of the Sistine Chapel.
Dr. Bell sings with the Lexington Chamber Chorale, a semi-professional choral group in the Lexington area, and is organist/choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Danville, KY. She holds memberships in the Society for Music Theory, The College Music Society, and The American Guild of Organists.