Research at Virginia Tech

The Office of the Vice President for Research recognizes Dwight Bigler, the director of choral activities at Virginia Tech and an assistant professor of music in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, for providing leadership to ensure high-quality music education.

Bigler’s work enhances the cultural life of the university through teaching, professional service, artistic performance, creativity, and research.

Under his direction, the Virginia Tech Chamber Singers completed a tour of Italy, where they sang in the Vatican and St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, in addition to concerts in Rome and Florence. It was the only college choir selected to perform at the Virginia Music Educators Association conference in November, 2012. 

Bigler’s composition, “Fly Away,” was premiered at the "Sheer Good Fortune" event in honor of Toni Morrison in Burruss Auditorium.

Originally from Blackfoot, Idaho, Bigler completed a year as interim director of choral activities at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where he led the choir on an international tour to Vienna and Prague.

In 2006, he completed a doctor of musical arts in choral conducting at the University of Texas at Austin, after which he taught and performed at UT-Austin as a pianist in the collaborative arts area. He received his master’s degree in choral conducting and bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Brigham Young University.

He serves as music director of the Blacksburg Master Choraleand his choral experience includes work as assistant conductor and pianist of the Dale Warland Singers, artistic director of the Austin Singers, and director of the UT-Austin Men’s Chorus and BYU Women's Chorus. In addition, he was music director for the UT Butler Opera Center in spring 2008, chorus master for three years, and has conducted productions with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin.

As a composer, Bigler has published choral works with Oxford University Press and Hinshaw Music. He recently completed a Barlow commission to compose a work for the choirs and orchestra of Brigham Young University. His award-winning doctoral treatise was a new composition entitled “Glimpses,” a five-movement, 25-minute work for choir and chamber orchestra with texts by Henry David Thoreau, Anthony Trollope, Jeremy Taylor, and Owen Felltham.

He received his bachelor’s degree in piano performance and his master’s in choral conducting from Brigham Young University, and his doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin.