“With purposeful, meticulous attention to vocal production, intonation and style…Ellen brings out the very best in a chorus.” — Paul Phillips, Director of Orchestral Studies, Stanford University

“Innately musical and respected nationally for her excellence…Ellen puts the people and the music before herself.” – Dr. Jamie Hillman, Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting, University of Toronto

Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth leads an active and fulfilling career as conductor and composer, educator and keyboard artist.

Currently Voth is Director of the Festival Chorus at the University of Connecticut, and recently served as Guest Conductor of the Collegium Musicum. She also serves as Artistic Director of the Farmington Valley Chorale based in Simsbury, CT, with performances and collaborations featuring music ranging from Handel’s oratorio Joseph to works of prominent living composers.   Voth has served on the music faculties of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT; Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT; Westfield State University in Westfield, MA; Western New England University in Springfield, MA; Gordon College in Wenham, MA; and the Ithaca College School of Music in Ithaca, NY. Her teaching and mentoring reflects her passion for and dedication to high standards of artistry, scholarship, and integration among different areas of study.  Her vision and artistic leadership has garnered attention throughout the greater Hartford region and beyond.

For seven years, Voth served as Artistic Director of Novi Cantori, a professional chamber choir based in greater Springfield, MA, conducting nearly fifty performances of music from the Renaissance through the present, balancing traditional and innovative programming with new ventures in community outreach. She also served as Chorus Director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Chorus (MA), as Director of the Symphonic Chorale at Gordon College (MA), as Assistant Conductor of the New Haven Chorale (CT), and as choral director at Perkiomen Valley High School in Collegeville, PA. For many summers Voth served on the faculty of the Masterworks Festival in Winona Lake, IN and the Csehy Summer School of Music in Langhorne, PA. Her guest conducting invitations continue to be regional and national in scope.

A well-established and regularly commissioned composer, Voth’s works are published by Oxford University Press, ECS Publishing, Graphite Publishing, Walton, Colla Voce, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing.  Her works have appeared at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, College Music Society, and National Association of Teachers of Singing. Voth is the winner of the 2022 American Prize for Choral Composition (shorter works), for “Across the empty square”; the 2022 Pearl Prize (ACDA) for “Standing Tall”; the co-winner of the Ithaca College Choral Composition Prize, for “I had no time to hate”; the 2020 Cincinnati Camerata Composition Prize, for “Above gravity”; and the 2020 Michigan Choral Commission Consortium Award, for “Seeing the same stars”. In 2020 she was also a finalist in the ACDA Brock competition for professional composers. Forthcoming commissions include The Winston-Salem Choral Artists (including plans for a album of her works), The MasterSingers of Worcester, and more. Noteworthy commission projects in recent years include The Washington Chorus; the West Point (USMA) Glee Club; the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus;  Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois; the University of Connecticut Choirs in partnership with the University of Stuttgart, Germany; The Hartt School, University of Hartford, for the centenary of its founding; VOCE, a professional choir in greater Hartford, CT;  CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists), and more. Voth’s biography and works are included in the publication, Choral Repertoire by Women Composers, published by GIA and officially released at the 2025 National ACDA Convention in Dallas, TX.

Voth is a singing member and guest conductor of CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists),  is a regular clinician, has been an active church musician for years throughout the Northeast, and performs frequently as a pianist and organist. She served as a  member of the Board of Choral Arts New England, a grant-awarding agency for choirs in the six New England states, and has served in multiple roles on the CT-ACDA state board.

Voth received her doctoral degree (DMA) from The Hartt School, Univ. of Hartford (CT), where she was the recipient of the Regents’ Honor Award for graduate students. Her dissertation research was a qualitative study of the use of moveable do solfège and the piano in the choral rehearsal.  Ellen, her husband, Greg, and their daughter, Heather Joylin, make their home in West Hartford, CT.