Alyssa Cossey

Dr. Alyssa J. Cossey is a conductor, singer, educator, and scholar. She is an inaugural member of the professional women’s choir, mirabai, a 2023 Third Place Winner of the Dale Warland American Prize in Conducting, and she is currently serving as Interim Director of Choral Activities at Wellesley College. Before relocating to Boston, she served as the Associate Director of Choral Activities at Coastal Carolina University and as an Assistant Professor of Choral Music at the University of Arizona. Prior to that, she taught middle and high school choir in Southern California for nearly a decade.

As a professional conductor, Dr. Cossey has successfully conducted choruses at the secondary and collegiate levels and has prepared choirs to perform choral-orchestral masterworks, including Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Handel’s Messiah, Britten’s War Requiem, and several works by Bach, including the St. John Passion. As a Los Angeles native, she sang in the premiere women’s chorus, Vox Femina Los Angeles, under the direction of Dr. Iris Levine, and has sung at venues including the Hollywood Bowl, the Pantages Theatre, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall with renowned conductors and composers, including John Williams, Grant Gershon, and James Conlon. Dr. Cossey also has a passion for research. She has been published in several state and regional music education journals, including the Choral Journal, and is a contributing author for a new choral textbook on women composers edited by Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt. Alyssa holds a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University, an M.M. in Conducting from California State University, Fullerton, and a B.A. from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. For additional information and resources, please visit www.alyssacossey.com.