BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Carl P. Ashley holds degrees from the University of Florida, Westminster Choir College, and the University of Miami. He is the Director of Choral Music at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida, where he teaches grades six through twelve.  His choruses consistently receive the highest ratings at district and state festivals, have won or placed in numerous national choral festivals, and have performed at Carnegie Hall twice.  He is in demand as a conductor, composer/arranger, clinician, and adjudicator.

Dr. Ashley has conducted choirs at all levels and has taught at Westminster Choir College, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Lynn University, and the University of Miami. His conducting teachers include Allen Crowell, John Dickson, Joseph Flummerfelt, Gary Green, James Jordan, and Jo-Michael Scheibe.

He has served as a church musician for over 25 years and served in full-time church music as the Minister of Music at Westside Baptist Church in Boynton Beach, Florida, and the Director of Music and Worship Arts at Trinity United Methodist Church in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He is currently the Music Director at Lake Osborne Presbyterian Church in Lake Worth, Florida. In 2006, he conducted performances of Bach's Magnificat and Vivaldi's Gloria in Ukraine with several combined choirs from the United States and Ukraine with orchestra, and was asked to return in 2008 to conduct a forty-voice choir in a five-city tour of Ukraine.

Beginning with the 2010-2011 season, Dr. Ashley will assume the position of Artistic Director of the Masterworks Chorus of the Palm  Beaches, conducting performances of Duruflé's and Fauré's Requiems, Handel's Messiah, and selected favorite choral masterworks.

Dr. Ashley has studied voice with Jana Young, Ronald Burrichter, and Marvin Keenze. He has been seen on the opera stage with the Palm Beach Opera, the University of Miami Opera Theatre, the Florida Arts Celebration, and the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in the United States and Italy.

He is an active, award-winning composer, and his music is published by National Music Publishers, Colla Voce Music, and Walton Music. In addition, he was commissioned by the Florida Vocal Association to compose the Middle and High School Sight-Reading Materials for 2009, 2010, and 2011 used throughout Florida and three other states and published through Kalmus.  He regularly receives choral/vocal commissions and is currently working on a piece for the Association for Music in International Schools set for women's choir and orchestra to be performed in Beijing, China, in 2011.

His memberships include the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP); the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS); Music Educators National Conference (MENC); the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA); the Florida Music Educators Association (FMEA); the Florida Vocal Association (FVA); and the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. He has appeared as a chorus member and baritone soloist on several labels, including Phillips and SoundByte.

He and his wife, Marie, a professional opera singer and voice teacher, live in South Florida.

Download Carl Ashley's curriculum vitae here.