Rate My Professor Malcolm Merriweather

Malcolm J. Merriweather is Professor of Music and the inaugural Tania León Endowed Chair of Music at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, where he directs Choral Studies and coordinates the Vocal Studies Program in the School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts. He earned degrees from Syracuse University, a Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music in 2010, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Manhattan School of Music in 2015. A Tanglewood Fellow, Merriweather began his professional training as a chorister in the Choir of Men and Boys at St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo. As a Grammy-nominated conductor, he has shaped the careers of numerous students over nearly a decade at Brooklyn College and extends his influence through community engagement initiatives that promote global citizenship via choral music.

Merriweather serves as Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and Music Director of The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra in New York City. He frequently guest conducts ensembles including the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. His repertoire features symphonic choral works such as Bach’s St. John Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Duruflé’s Requiem, alongside premieres of contemporary pieces like Handel: Made in America (2023-2024), Émigré: An Oratorio, and oratorios on Sojourner Truth and Anne Frank. Key recordings encompass world premiere releases of Margaret Bonds’s The Ballad of the Brown King, Credo, and Simon Bore the Cross on AVIE Records (2022-2023). In April 2026, he was inducted into Morehouse College's Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars for his artistic excellence, social responsibility, civil rights commitment, and use of music for moral leadership and community impact. He also holds an Artist-in-Residence position at Union Theological Seminary.