Dr. G. Preston Wilson, Jr.,

Dr. G. Preston Wilson, Jr., the Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers^® and Mike Curb Endowed Fisk Jubilee Singers Chair in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the historic Fisk University in Nashville, TN. A native of Durham, NC and 2010 graduate of Fisk University, Dr. Wilson returned to Fisk and to the Fisk Jubilee Singers^®, in which he sang under the direction of the late Dr. Paul T. Kwami. He received his Bachelors of Science in Music Education from Fisk University in Nashville, TN in 2010. During his matriculation, this world-renown, Dove and Grammy award winning ensemble was awarded the National Medal of the Arts, the highest artistic honor in the nation from the National Endowment for the Arts and presented by President George Bush. He was blessed to accompany the Jubilee singers to Ghana and Spain in the summer of 2007 and was featured on the recording project, Sacred Journey. After graduating from Fisk, Dr. Wilson earned a Masters of Music in Choral Music Education from Bowling Green State University, where he was awarded the Winifred O. Stone Graduate Fellowship, being named the Presidential Graduate Scholar.

After graduation from BGSU, Dr. Wilson began teaching at various schools in the Toledo Public School systems.  His longest stay was at Start High School where he oversaw five choral ensembles, the school dance team, and an advisor for the African American Culture Club. He was also the vocal coach and co-director for the Toledo Youth Choir: a community youth ensemble; and taught voice and piano for The Mustard Seed Academy of Arts. Dr. Wilson additionally served on the Music Ministry at Friendship Baptist Church, under the leadership of Bishop Duane C. Tisdale. There he functioned as the principal accompanist for the ministry, directed the Youth and Young choir, and worship leader for district and state Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship events.

In June of 2021, Dr. Wilson graduated from the University of Missouri (Columbia), obtaining a PhD in Music Education.  He successfully defended his dissertation entitled, Successful Urban Elementary Music Educator: A Phenomenological Investigation; which focuses on the lived experiences of urban music teachers in elementary schools.

As an active researcher, he has published in journals such as TEMPO, official magazine of the New Jersey Music Educators Association. He also has contributed chapters in A Music Pedagogy for Our Time: Conversation and Critique; If Colors Could be Heard They’d Paint Wondrous Tunes: Narratives about Music Education, Race, Ethnicity, and Identity; and You Hear US Knocking BUT Won’t Let US In: Voices, Reflections and Practices on Diversity Equity and Inclusion. He boasts research presentations at the Feminist Theory and Music Conference at the University of Guelph, Canada; the International Society for the Sociology of Music Education at the University of Veracruz; and the BLACK Critical Media Literacy Conference: Action! Awareness! Advocacy! in the African Diaspora. He also has a host of national and state conference presentations including Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, and Florida. Dr. Wilson has served as the clinician for the Durham All County Choir, as well as the NJMEA Middle/Junior High school choral festival.

Originally from Durham, NC, Dr. Wilson is the son of Dr. George Preston Wilson Sr. and Zenobia Hatcher-Wilson. In his youth, Dr. Wilson attended the public school system, where his love of music was cultivated. A graduate of the Duke School of the Arts, Dr. Wilson was also very active in his church and in his community. An organist at his home church, Refiner’s Fire Community Church, Dr. Wilson has remained an active music minister throughout his scholarly journey, working in churches in Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri, and New Jersey.

Dr. Wilson is a proud member of the Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Pi Kappa Lambda, American Choral Directors’ Association (ACDA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and College Music Society (CMS).