Jeanne Ellison Shaffer, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, spent her childhood singing on stage and radio, including five years with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. She played the role of Jeannette MacDonald as a child in Girl of the Golden West. She holds degrees from Stamford University, Birmingham Southern College, and a Ph.D. from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. She studied composition with Hugh Thomas, Gilbert Trythall and George Tsontakis, and has been associate composer with Lukas Foss and Joan Tower at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Dr. Shaffer’s catalog includes four cantatas, art songs, organ and chamber music, an opera, orchestral music and three musicals. Her music has been performed at the National Women’s Music Festival, the College Music Society, the Opus 3 Conference on Women in Music, the Fall Festival of Women in the Arts at the University of Alabama, the Spoleto Festival, and in concert halls and churches throughout the world. She has received awards and honors from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Governor’s Arts Awards from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, NDEA Grant, and ASCAP Standard Awards among others. |
