2026 James Litton Grant for Choral Training

The Association of Anglican Musicians (AAM) announces the recipient of its 2026 James Litton Grant for Choral Training, Vernon Snyder. He plans to use the grant to spend up to two weeks in Cambridge, England, attending evensongs, complines, vespers, auditing choral rehearsals, and learning from musicians in the university chapels.

The James Litton Grant for Choral Training honors the late James Litton, one of the co-founders of the Association of Anglican Musicians and a leader in church and choral music. Its purpose is to aid musicians in developing their own choir training skills, building a chorister program for young singers, or for another endeavor that lives into the spirit of creating choral experiences within the Episcopal Church.

Vernon Snyder is an organist, choral conductor, and collaborative pianist based in Memphis, Tennessee, where he serves as organist-choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church. In addition, he directs the Choir of St. John’s as well as the Schola Cantorum, which sings choral Compline monthly according to the Sarum Rite of 1662. He also cultivates the concert series Music at St. John’s. Under his direction, members of the choir completed a nine-day choral residency in Ireland in 2023, singing at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and St. Nicholas Collegiate Church, Galway, as well as a one-week residency at Liverpool Cathedral in May 2025.

As an active organist, pianist, and educator, Snyder has concertized throughout the United States, Bangladesh, England, South Korea, Taiwan, and on live radio broadcast, including world premieres of works by award-winning composers. He has held music faculty positions at Pomona College and California State Polytechnic University Pomona and is author of An Introduction to Music, an interactive university-level e-book published through Great River Learning. 

For information: anglicanmusicians.org/litton.

(photo credit: India Rose)