About

Dr. Emerson Eads currently serves as Director of Choral Activities at Minot State University. As a composer and conductor, Emerson has devoted himself to music of social concern. His Mass for the Oppressed, a setting of the Ordinary of the Mass featuring textual interpolations by his brother Evan Eads and a Credo adapted from the diary of Pope Francis, reflects on some of the most poignant social issues of our time. The Mass was written to muster public support for the Fairbanks Four, Native Alaskans from the composer’s hometown who were wrongfully imprisoned for eighteen years. Eads’ cantata “…from which your laughter rises” was written for the mothers of the Fairbanks Four. It was conducted to acclaim, paired in a concert featuring Haydn’s Stabat Mater. His newest opera, The Princess Sophia, is about the sinking of the SS Princess Sophia. It was premiered in Juneau, Alaska, on October 25th, 2018—the disaster’s centennial–to rave review in Opera Magazine. His most recent large-scale project, A Prairie Cantata, recovers lyrics from a neglected North Dakota woman poet and was premiered with the Minot State University Choir.

Dr. Eads studied choral conducting with Carmen-Helena Tellez at the University of Notre Dame, working with eminent choral conductors including Joseph Flummerfelt, Stephen Cleobury, Anne Howard Jones, and Peter Phillips. Prior to his graduate work, he studied composition with Alaskan composer John Luther Adams.

News

Eads’ Meditabor Published by Earthsongs

Emerson Eads’ composition, Meditabor, for treble voices, has now been published in the Nancy Menk’s College Choral Series, exclusively with Earthsongs music publishing and is now available for purchase and performance. It was given its world premiere by Dr. Nancy Menk...

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony – Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra

Dr. Emerson Eads joins the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and maestro Eduard Zilberkant for Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Maddison Warren, soprano; Mary Catherine Moroney, mezzo-soprano; and Daniel Narducci, baritone along with his alma mater, Choir of the North, The...

Mass for the Oppressed in Grand Rapids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtLMlWXFXrg A beautiful and heart-felt performance of Emerson Eads' Mass for the Oppressed in Royce Auditorium, St. Cecilia Music Center on April 7th, 2023. Emelia Clark, soprano Tyler Roberts, mezzo-soprano Jon Lovegrove, tenor William...

Compositions

Mass for the Oppressed

Song of the Sikuliaq

Color of Gold

Composition Catalogue