Vernon Snyder is an organist, choral conductor, and collaborative pianist based in Memphis, Tennessee, where he holds the post of Organist-Choirmaster at Saint John’s Episcopal Church. At Saint John’s, Dr. Snyder provides organ music for all liturgies, cultivates the concert series Music at Saint John’s, featuring distinguished artists from around the world, and directs the Choir of Saint John’s, a semi-professional choral ensemble which sings throughout the liturgical year. Under his direction, members of the Choir recently completed a nine day period of Choral Residency in Ireland, singing numerous liturgies at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, as well as Saint Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway.
As an active performer, Vernon has performed throughout the United States, Bangladesh, England, Korea, Taiwan, and live radio broadcast, including world premieres of works by award-winning composers. Dr. Snyder has held faculty positions at Pomona College and CSU Pomona, and is author of An Introduction to Music, an interactive, university-level e-book published through Great River Learning. He has served as board member, competition judge, and honorary performer with the Lino Music Society, which hosts competitions and educational outreach programs in El Salvador.
Dr. Snyder holds degrees from Southern Oregon University (BA, Music Performance, Music Education), California State University, Long Beach (MM, Music Performance), and Claremont Graduate University (DMA, Music Performance), the Colleague Certificate (CAGO) from the American Guild of Organists, and maintains active membership in the Association of Anglican Musicians, American Guild of Organists, and Royal College of Organists. He is the recipient of the Evans Family Music Scholarship, Kenneth Fiske Fellowship in Music, Fernandez Prize, and First Place in the graduate division of the Rudolph Polk Memorial Award. He undertook additional piano studies at the Vienna Konservatorium while completing German language certificates in Austria, and later Germany. He has performed in piano masterclasses with Eduardus Halim, Mack McCray, and Angela Hewitt, with primary piano studies with Alexander Tutunov, Shun-lin Chou, and Nadia Shpachenko, and harpsichord with Robert Zappulla.
Organist | Conductor | Pianist