Vinroy D. Brown, Jr. is a conductor, musicologist, and educator with academic and professional experience in choral conducting, sacred music, and music education. He is the Minister of Creative Worship, Music & Arts at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York, and Artistic Director & Conductor of the Capital Singers of Trenton. He most recently was Adjunct Assistant Professor of Sacred Music at Westminster Choir College, where he conducted the Westminster Jubilee Singers, taught in the Baccalaureate Honors Program, directed the Westminster Vocal Institute, and was the Founder and Curator of the university-wide Celebration of Black Music. He also served as Lecturer of Music in the College of Communication and Fine Arts at Loyola Marymount University, where he developed and taught the institution's inaugural course in music and social justice.
His research focuses on the music of the Black experience, women composers, and living composers, with particular attention to music as a tool for social justice and anti-racism in educational and communal settings. His work has been published in the Choral Journal of the American Choral Directors Association, and he is a contributing author in Choral Repertoire by Women Composers. Brown is also the curator of the Black Psalmody Database, the first comprehensive compendium of choral psalm settings by Black composers. He is contributing author to the newly revised book, The School Choral Program, to be released next year.
He has presented research and conducted workshops for international, national, and regional organizations, including the International Florence Price Festival, American Choral Directors Association, National Collegiate Choral Organization, New Jersey Education Association, and music education association conferences in Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, and Maryland. He has lectured at Princeton University, Yale University, the University of Miami, Millikin University, Rowan University, Kutztown University, the University of Delaware, and The College of New Jersey.
A noted baritone, Brown appeared as a performer in the Netflix film Maestro, whose soundtrack was awarded the 2025 Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. He is also featured on the 50th Anniversary Album of the musical Raisin. He served as Chorus Conductor for the world premiere production of Omar, an opera by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, which received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He is also a member of the professional vocal ensemble Elevation.
During the 2026–2027 season, Brown will headline the William Paterson University Vocal Festival and will guest conduct the Rowan University Tenor-Bass Festival, the CJMEA Intermediate Treble Chorus, and the Calvert County Public School All-County Chorus, as well as the Rowan University Concert Choir in Rosephanye Powell's The Cry of Jeremiah. With Capital Singers of Trenton, he will commemorate the ensemble's 20th anniversary with a performance of the Poulenc Gloria alongside the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey and mark his tenth year as Artistic Director & Conductor with performances of the Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs and Serenade to Music. At Abyssinian, he will present Handel's Messiah with the Abyssinian Cathedral Choir and New York Philharmonic in the winter, and the Fauré Requiem and Undine Smith Moore's Scenes from the Life of a Martyr in the spring.
He is a member of the National Association for Music Education, National Association of Negro Musicians, National Alliance of Black School Educators, American Choral Directors Association, National Collegiate Choral Organization, International Society for Black Musicians, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, Inc. He serves on the advisory board of the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey, is a board member of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of New York, and is Board President of the Essence of Harmony Choral Society.
Brown earned a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Temple University, where he received both the Elaine Brown Choral Award and the inaugural Alan Harler Choral Award. He also holds a Master of Arts in Practical Theology from Regent University, and dual Bachelor of Music degrees in Sacred Music and Music Education from Westminster Choir College. He is currently a Sigma Alpha Phi scholar, pursuing the Doctor of Philosophy in Music with a concentration in Musicology and additional coursework in Africology and African American Studies at Temple University.