Zebulon M. Highben

A conductor, composer, and scholar of sacred music, Dr. Zebulon Highben serves as Director of Chapel Music at Duke University Chapel and as Associate Professor of the Practice of Church Music at Duke Divinity School. He conducts the Duke Chapel Choir, edits the Music from Duke Chapel choral series, and oversees the Chapel’s extensive music program, which connects students, community members, staff singers, instrumentalists, and professional colleagues in myriad worship services and sacred concerts.

Prior to his appointments at Duke, Highben was Associate Professor of Music at Muskingum University and Director of Music at Trinity United Methodist Church in Columbus, Ohio. Choirs under Highben’s leadership have performed at numerous choral conferences and festivals and have toured domestically and internationally. In 2015, he won The American Prize in Conducting in the College/University Chorus Division for his work with the Muskingum choirs. In 2016, he was selected as the Central Division Fellow for the ACDA’s International Conductors Exchange Program with South Korea.

Highben’s choral music is frequently commissioned and widely performed by schools, churches, and arts organizations. More than fifty of his works are published domestically by eight major publishers, and in Sweden by Gehrmans Musikförlag. Honors include the Raabe Prize for Excellence in Sacred Composition (2011), a Faith Partners grant from the American Composers Forum (2011-12), Finalist standing in the American Prize in Choral Composition (2014-15, 2018-19), and numerous ASCAP Performance Plus Awards.

Highben holds an undergraduate degree in music education from Ohio State University, a master of sacred music degree from Luther Seminary with St. Olaf College, and a doctor of musical arts in conducting from Michigan State University.