Crane School of Music to Host Alumni Mary Biddlecombe '99 & Tucker Biddlecombe '98 for Visiting Master Educator Residency

SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music Hosts Accomplished Alumni Mary & Tucker Biddlecombe for Residency Focused on 'The Singing Voice in Music Education'

Potsdam, NY (09/17/2026) — SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music will welcome two accomplished visiting alumni for a residency focused on "The Singing Voice in Music Education" next week.

Mary Biddlecomb '99 and Tucker Biddlecombe '98, both now faculty members at Vanderbilt University, will return to their alma mater on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 21 and 22, through the Fall 2026 Joy Anthony Douglass Visiting Master Teacher residency.

During their visit, they will visit classes and lead special workshops, focusing on topics such as teaching through singing, warm-ups and rote songs, pathways to modeling, and using your voice on the podium. They will conduct singing exercises with Crane School of Music students and faculty, as well as leading a special community event at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 22, featuring an open singing workshop with local elementary schools.

The couple's visit to Potsdam is made possible through the Joy Anthony Douglass Visiting Master Teacher Fund, which was established by Joy Anthony Douglass '56 to honor the transformative experiences she had as a student during her time at Crane. The fund enables visiting master teachers to share their insights and expertise with Crane School of Music students and faculty, as well as music educators from throughout the region.

About the presenters:

Mary Biddlecombe '99 is a nationally renowned specialist in choral music for developing voices, specializing in contextual music literacy, symphonic repertoire, and pedagogy through creative collaboration.

A member of the faculty at Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music since 2012, she serves as artistic director of the Vanderbilt Youth Choirs program and teaches collegiate classes in choral studies and music education. Vanderbilt Youth Choirs tour annually and frequently collaborate with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Performance highlights have included Britten's "War Requiem," Orff's "Carmina Burana," Adams' "On the Transmigration of Souls," Mahler's Symphony No. 8, and Bernstein's Symphony No. 3, "Kaddish." Internationally, the VYC has presented concerts in Budapest, Costa Rica, Ireland, Italy and Prague. She also serves as director of the Blair Academy, a comprehensive precollegiate music program serving approximately 800 families in the Nashville community.

Mrs. Biddlecombe maintains a busy schedule of conducting honor choirs throughout the country. Her unique approach invigorates students and enlightens choral directors on creative rehearsal techniques. The past several years have yielded state-wide conducting engagements in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Regional credits include engagements with the Southwest and Southern Regions of the American Choral Directors Association. She also mentors collegiate students studying choral music education through their participation as teaching assistants in the eight graded ensembles of the Vanderbilt Youth Choirs program. In addition, Mary is co-founder of the Vanderbilt Choral Scholars, a bi-annual cohort of collegiate students who travel to the United Kingdom, engaging with cathedral youth choirs and boy choirs in Leeds and Liverpool.

Biddlecombe holds the Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Music degree from The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She enjoys singing professionally with Vocal Arts Nashville, and with the all-volunteer Nashville Symphony Chorus under the direction of her husband, Tucker Biddlecombe, director of choral studies at Vanderbilt.

Tucker Biddlecombe '98 is professor of choral studies at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, where he conducts the Vanderbilt Sixteen and University Singers. In addition, Biddlecombe serves as the Billy Ray Hearn chorus director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and is entering his tenth season as director of the Nashville Symphony Chorus.

His performance highlights at Blair have included Britten's "War Requiem," Mozart's "Requiem," Brahms's "Ein Deutsches Requiem" and Bach's St. Matthew Passion. He has conducted honor choruses in a dozen states, two concerts at Carnegie Hall, and in 2022, conducted the UCTB honor choir for the Southern Region of the American Choral Directors Association. International engagements have included guest conducting throughout the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and a residency with the Central Conservatory in Beijing. Biddlecombe also founded the Vanderbilt Choral Scholars, a bi-annual summer immersion project immersing a cohort of students in cathedral choirs throughout the United Kingdom.

His work with the Nashville Symphony has included chorus preparation for many of the repertoire's most revered masterworks. This season includes preparation for Maestro Leonard Slatkin on Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" and Brahms "Requiem." Biddlecombe will conduct the orchestra and chorus in Handel's "Messiah," and a birthday concert of the works of Bach including "Magnificat in D." He has prepared the chorus for multiple major world-premiere recordings including John Harbison's "Requiem," Gabriela Lena-Frank's "Conquest Requiem," and the upcoming release of Jonathan Leshnoff's "The Sacrifice of Isaac." The chorus recently recorded a live performance of Carol Barnett's "The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass," for upcoming commercial release.

Biddlecome was recently appointed senior associate provost for residential colleges and residential education for Vanderbilt University. A veteran teacher and leader in music education, he has served terms as associate dean of undergraduate education at the Blair School of Music and as president of the Tennessee chapter of ACDA. He is a graduate of SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music and Florida State University, where he completed studies in choral conducting and music education with Daniel Gordon and Andre Thomas, respectively. He resides in Nashville with his wife Mary Biddlecombe, director of the Blair Academy at Vanderbilt, and artistic director of Vanderbilt Youth Choirs.

About The Crane School of Music:

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution and was one of the first Yamaha Institutions of Excellence. For more information, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

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