Roy L. Belfield, Jr.

b. 1968

Roy L. Belfield, Jr., a native of Petersburg, Virginia, began his undergraduate studies in music at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Master’s degrees in music education and organ performance from Florida State University in Tallahassee, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He has done additional studies in vocal pedagogy and choral conducting at the University of Alabama, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Southern California. Belfield has studied choral conducting with David Morrow, Rodney Eichenberger, Scott Anderson and Lynn Drafall, and piano with Marilyn J. Breeden, Buckner Gamby, and Moses Hogan. His principal organ teachers have included Carl G. Harris, Jr.; Clarence E. Whiteman; Herman D. Taylor; Joyce F. Johnson; Michael L. Corzine; and John Obetz.

As an educator, Dr. Belfield taught students from pre-school to college for twenty-two years. As a church musician, he has served six denominations throughout the country. As an accompanist, Belfield has collaborated with numerous choirs, vocalists, and instrumentalists. As composer and arranger, Dr. Belfield has written works for chorus, voice and piano and organ.

His choral and organ works are published by Colla Voce, Hal Leonard Corporation, MorningStar Music, GIA Publications, and Wayne Leupold Editions. Dr. Belfield’s scholarly articles are published in The American Organist and the Choral Journal. His primary research includes the works of Undine Smith Moore and Phillip McIntyre. Dr. Belfield is currently Director of Music Ministries and Organist at Towson United Methodist Church in Maryland. From 2017 to 2022, he served as Minister of Music and Organist at Hampton Baptist Church in Virginia.

Dr. Belfield frequently serves as choral clinician/adjudicator, lecturer, guest conductor, concert organist, and accompanist across the country. His performance and lecture venues have included the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C, Carnegie Hall, College of William and Mary, Lincoln Center in New York, Hampton University, Jackson State University, Loyola University New Orleans, Morehouse College, Old Dominion University, Pennsylvania State University, Spelman College, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University, Virginia Wesleyan University, and Wake Forest University. His European performances as a concert organist and accompanist have taken him to Schorndorf, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic. He accepts choral commissions for schools, professional choruses, and special church celebrations. Dr. Belfield holds memberships with the American Choral Directors Association, the American Guild of Organists, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.