American conductor, composer, pianist and organist Norman Scribner was born in Washington DC on 25 February 1936. When his clergyman father died, he had to concentrate on church music jobs to earn money.
He studied at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory of Music, studying with Paul Callaway and Walter Spencer Huffman, and whilst a student, formed the Baltimore Choral Society. He worked at Washington National Cathedral, St Alban's Episcopal Church and St Albans School for Boys. He also worked for American University and later at George Washington University and the College of Church Musicians of Washington National Cathedral.
During the 1960s and 70s he began to establish himself as a conductor and musical director of note, receiving praise for his 'obsession with excellence'.
He formed a professional choir to premiere Bernstein's Mass, served as chorus master of Washington Opera and was a member of the Choral Panel of the American National Endowment for the Arts.
He founded the Choral Arts Society of Washington and was the group's artistic director for forty-seven years, retiring in 2012.
Norman Scribner died on 22 March 2015, aged seventy-nine.