Robert J. Powell

b. 1932

Robert J. Powell was born 1932, in Benoit, Mississippi. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Organ and Composition from Louisiana State University in 1954 and his Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music, New York in 1958. He holds Certificates of Fellow (FAGO) and Choirmaster (ChM) from the American Guild of Organists and is a member of American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers( ASCAP). He has received the Standard Music Award from ASCAP for the last 35 years.

Mr. Powell has approximately 300 works in print for choral, solo, organ, handbells, and instrumental ensembles in major American and English church music publishers. He has held positions as the Assistant Organist at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York from 1958-1960, Organist/Choir Director at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Meridian, Mississippi from 1960-1965, Director of Music and Organist/Choirmaster at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire from 1965-1968, Director of Music and Organist/Choirmaster at Christ Church in Greenville, South Carolina from 1968-2003, and Organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina in 2003. He has held memberships with the Choristers' Guild Board, 1987-1993, and National Certification Committee of the American Guild of Organists, 2000-2005. Mr. Powell also received Louisiana State University School of Music Alumnus of the Year in 1989. He is married and has three children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild.