Biography

Blake R. Mitchell is a composer, arranger, vocalist, and educator whose versatility and well-roundedness make his work engaging. From classical concert works to musical theatre and jazz stylings, his experiences performing and creating new music span a broad reach. Blake believes it is important to know his art from all sides—each pours into the other.

Blake R. Mitchell is an up-and-coming, award-winning composer and arranger of both vocal and instrumental works.

Blake’s original choral work “When Storms Arise,” a setting of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Hymn, was recently selected as a runner-up in the ACDA 2022 Pearl Prize competition. The Samford University A Cappella Choir commissioned and premiered “O, Come Thou Fount” at the 2022 ACDA Southern Region conference. Other recognitions include winning the University of Notre Dame’s Liturgy Alive: Choral Composition Commission Competition, the 2020 Walter Hussey Composition Competition, and Samford University’s Seventh Annual Wind Ensemble Composition Competition. He has select works published by Excelcia Music Publishing.

Blake is currently in graduate study in Vocal Pedagogy, focused within contemporary commercial music styles, at Shenandoah Conservatory. He earned his B.M. in Vocal Performance at Samford University where he engaged in additional studies in music composition. His versatile vocal abilities extend into his continued involvement with several operatic and musical theatre productions, while his training as a pianist serves him in the capacities of music direction for theatrical and concert performances.