Zachary Ullery
Zachary Ullery, Canon for Music, joined the music staff of the American Cathedral in September 2008. Canon Ullery manages the Cathedral’s extensive music program, which includes conducting the Cathedral Choir, the Choirs for Youth and Children, and the music education programs. He also serves as the Artistic Director of Les Arts George V, the American Cathedral’s arts organization which hosts over one hundred concerts a year and nurtures the creative impulse of the Cathedral community. In addition to his duties at the Cathedral, he is also the Musical Director of the Paris Choral Society. Prior to his appointment at the Cathedral, he served as Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington, Kentucky, and the Director of Choral Activities at George Rogers Clark High School.
Zachary graduated summa cum laude from the University of Kentucky in 2004 and in 2008, he received dual Masters Degrees from the University of Kentucky in Choral Conducting and Music Education. In addition, he has completed advanced studies in Orff-Schulwerk, a developmental approach to music education for children. During his graduate studies at the University of Kentucky, he studied choral conducting with Dr. Jefferson Johnson and Dr. Lori Hetzel and organ with Dr. Schuyler Robinson. He served as Conductor of the University of Kentucky Choristers, the Assistant Conductor of the University Chorale and as the Assistant Conductor and Accompanist for the renowned Men's Chorus.
During his conducting career he has conducted many major works from the choral/orchestral repertoire including the Bach St. John Passion and Mass in B Minor, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Mozart Requiem, Duruflé Requiem, Fauré Requiem, Brahms Requiem, Haydn Creation, Handel Messiah, Lauridsen Lux aeterna, Orff Carmina Burana, Rachmaninov Vespers, the masses of Haydn, Schubert, Vierne, and Langlais, and in 2012, conducted the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Yehudi Wyner’s The Lord is close to the heartbroken. In 2017, he conducted several world premieres of compositions by Richard Burchard and the European premiere of Burchard’s Seven Last Words of Christ. In addition to his conducting career, Zachary is an accomplished organist and has accompanied choirs and played solo recitals in numerous cathedrals throughout the United States, the Bahamas, and Europe.
Canon Ullery is a member of the American Choral Director’s Association, the American Guild of Organists, and serves on the board of the Royal School of Church Music (France).