Guest Artist Recital – Dr. Todd Miller, Tenor and Dr. John Cornelius II, piano

Dr. John Cornelius, pianist and professor of music at Prairie View A&M University, is the proud son of an Elder in the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church and a retired educator. A native of Jackson, Dr. Cornelius graduated from Murrah High School in 1984, and his immediate family continues to reside in Jackson. He began his musical career by playing piano in churches in Carthage, Ofahoma, Canton, and Jackson. His great-grandfather, from Bolton, Mississippi, was the first Black postman in the state, and his great-grandmother was a Methodist circuit rider based in Canton and Pelahatchie. Dr. Cornelius went on to receive the degree of Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Jackson State University and the Master of Music in Piano Performance from Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Cornelius would later receive a second Master of Music and the Doctor of Musical Arts from Rice University, both in composition. His teacher at Rice was Mississippi native Samuel Jones.

Dr. Cornelius has been music director, composer, and arranger for several theatre companies in the Houston, Texas area, including the Ensemble Theatre of Houston, Main Street Theatre, and Theatre Under the Stars. He has received two commissions from the Smithsonian Institute: one for a work about the lives and careers of Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph titled “Going the Distance”; and one for “Black Diamond,” a musico-theatrical work about the Negro Baseball Leagues.

Dr. Cornelius has written a number of compositions exploring the legacy of the African-American spiritual: “Lis’en to de Lam’s” for soprano duet and piano; “Three Spirituals for Tenor and Strings”; “My Kinfolks Got Wings” for woodwind quintet; and “Conversion” for Tenor and chamber ensemble. His most recent works include “Chansons Creoles,” a song cycle whose text is by gens de colour of 19th-century Louisiana; Sonata of Attitudes for 2 Horns and Piano; The Kashmere Cycle, a song cycle commissioned by Houston Grand Opera’s HGOCo; What Wings They Were, a commission from HGOCo; and Fulfilled, a Passion Week cantata; and a Magnificat, Mary’s Song of Joy for First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood, TX.

Joining Dr. Cornelius is tenor and conductor Dr. Todd Miller. Dr. Miller has become a fixture in the Houston, Texas musical community. He is the founding member of the music department at Lone Star College in Kingwood, Texas, having grown the department to 70 music majors and 25 faculty. As a conductor, Dr. Miller directs three ensembles: The Kingwood Chorale and Chamber Orchestra, The Concert Choir, and the chamber choir called Evōk (Eclectic Voices of Kingwood). LSC-Kingwood’s choirs have performed all over the world, from Carnegie Hall to England, Scotland, French Canada and the United States. They have also served as the back-up choir for Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman on tour stops in Houston.

As a solo performer, Dr. Miller’s recent performances include a leading role in “Two Cells in Sevilla” a chamber opera by German composer Walter Steffens. “Two Cells” premiered at the Round Top Theater Forum and was later released on Parma Records. Other solo highlights include Messiah with the Houston Chamber Choir, the Beethoven Mass in C with the Houston Choral Society, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul with the Houston Symphony and Haydn’s Creation with The Woodlands Chorale and Orchestra. He also has performed twice in Carnegie Hall, including an all-American program that featured several premieres.

Dr. Miller holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance and conducting from the University of Houston. He also holds vocal performance degrees from the University of Louisville and the University of Arizona. He lives in Kingwood with his wife and Mississippi native Lori (née Red) and has two sons.