Dr. Patricia Sparti

Patricia Carmelina Sparti, D.M.A. is has served as the Director of Orchestral Activities, Professor of Music, and principal conductor for the Gardner-Webb University Orchestra since 2001. At Gardner-Webb she is also the Coordinator for the Business and Music Industry program, placing students in and supervising capstone internships. Under her direction the GWU Orchestra has been invited to perform twice at the annual conference of NCMEA, most recently in 2019. Dr. Sparti, a champion for new music and student collaboration, has conducted or supervised over 20 student composer senior thesis World Premieres with the GWU Orchestra and has conducted numerous musicals and operas.  She was also Chair of The Distinguished Artists Committee for 20 years. In addition to her artistic endeavors at GWU, she served as Chair of the Music Department at Gardner-Webb for 13 years, leading two reaccreditations with the National Association of Schools of Music.    

Prior to her arrival in Boiling Springs, Sparti served as Music Director of the Georgetown University Orchestra (Washington, DC), the GU Concert Choir, and as Director of Chamber Music at GU. She received Georgetown’s “1997-98” Distinguished Service Award,” presented to the individual who by vocation, commitment, and involvement, best exemplifies the goals and ideals of Student Affairs at Georgetown.” Her Georgetown groups also won awards for “Outstanding Contribution to the Performing Arts at GU.” Her GU groups performed for President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore.  Dr. Sparti was Music Director of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution’s Choral Society and Orchestra for seventeen seasons.  Under her direction the JHMI ensembles performed on NBC Televisions four times, won national awards for quality of performance, and performed for President George H. W. Bush and Robert Shaw. Dr. Sparti regularly serves as an adjudicator and clinician for Orchestra MPA Contests, runs an Annual GWU Orchestra Pre-Contest Festival, and is the orchestra conductor at Mark O’Connor’s O’Connor Method Camp in Charlotte.    

Dr. Sparti received her B.M. in Music Education from the University of Miami. She received her M.M. in Orchestral Conducting and D.M.A in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. While at Peabody, Dr. Sparti held an Assistantship in Orchestral Conducting and studied with Frederik Prausnitz and Edward Polochick. Dr. Sparti has served as National Secretary and President of the Southeastern Division of CODA (College Orchestra Director’s Association.)