Jeraldine Herbison
b. 1941
In addition to being known as a composer of art songs, symphonic works, and instrumental chamber music, Jeraldine Saunders Herbison is also an experienced violinist and teacher of strings and orchestral studies in the public schools. While completing her Bachelor of Science degree at Virginia State College in Petersburg in Music Education, she majored in violin and minored in both piano and voice. An active performer, she continues to play in the first violin section of the York River Symphony in Yorktown, Virginia. After a thirty-four year public school teaching career, Herbison retired in 1998 from Newport News Public Schools. She taught both applied strings and conducted student orchestras during her teaching career in Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. Many of her cello works were written for her husband, the late Dr. James P. Herbison, who was both cellist in the Virginia Symphony and a music faculty member at Hampton University. Herbison’s rich musical background, training, and work as a performer inform her compositions.
– Bethany Worrell
This profile was created in 2021 as part of The Savvy Singer, an EXCEL Lab course at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and a collaboration with the Hampsong Foundation via the Classic Song Research Initiative.
Bio credit: Song of America, Photo Credit: Helen Walker-Hill collection
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