Jacqueline Butler Hairston is an award-winning ASCAP composer-arranger, pianist, music educator, and vocal coach. Originally from Charlotte, NC and formerly of the San Francisco Bay Area, she currently resides in Sacramento, CA. Jacqui received her pre-college music education from The Juilliard School, her Bachelor’s degree from Howard University (B.Mus.Ed.) and her Masters from Columbia University (Mus. Ed.).

Twice-invited as a guest conductor to present her own works at Carnegie Hall in 2012 and in 2016, Hairston has won numerous other honors — among them The Keeper of the Spiritual Award from Friends of Negro Spirituals (Oakland, CA), The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Living Heritage Foundation (Sacramento, CA), and the San Francisco (Channel 5-TV) Jefferson Award as Preserver of the Negro Spiritual, a title she resurrected from her acclaimed cousin, Dr. Jester Hairston.

Renowned soprano Kathleen Battle has presented Hairston’s works in recital and recorded her arrangements in her Grammy- Award-winning CD with Christopher Parkening. Most recently she has included them in her acclaimed, touring Underground Railroad concerts since 2011. A host of acclaimed, international orchestras and artists have performed Hairston’s works, among them include, The London Symphony, The Mormon Tabernacle, The Oakland Symphony, The Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, William Warfield, Denyce Graves, Grace Bumbry, Robert Sims, Louise Toppin, Susheel Bibbs, and Darryl Taylor.

Jacqui’s life and compositional style have now been captured in a book by Phillip Harris, entitled Songs and Spirituals: The Life and Music of Jacqueline Hairston, and in her first published volume of songs and spirituals is available at this concert and through Classical Vocal Reprints.