Moses, Don V. (1936) | University of Illinois Archives

Don V. Moses was born December 21, 1936 in Garden City, Kansas. He earned his Bachelor's degree in music education from Fort Hays State University in 1959, and a Master of Music in 1962 and a Doctorate of Music in 1968 from Indiana University.  During his tenure at Indiana he also served as Assistant Professor of Music among the conducting faculty from 1964-1973.  In 1973 he became the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Iowa, and remained there until 1986 when he took the position of Director of the School of Music at the University of Illinois. Among his published works are handbooks on choral conducting.

Moses was best known for his lifelong work on the masses of Joseph Haydn. He founded the Classical Musical Festival in 1975, which took place each year in Eisenstadt, Austria, where Haydn lived and worked, and for which he recieved recognition from the city of Eisenstadt and the state of Burgenland. In 2008 he published, along with Robert W. Demaree, The Masses of Jospeph Haydn, based on this extensive research and performance experience.