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Full biography – General
Hailed as a “composer of energized and soulful music,” Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an acclaimed black American female composer, teacher, singer, and conductor who specializes in choral music. For more than three decades, she has dedicated herself to sharing her creativity, stylistic versatility, and intense passion for music-making with people of all ages and identities from all over the world. She has received commissions from various organizations including the American Guild of Organists (O Magnum Mysterium – 2026), American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) (The Summit is Nigh – 2025), the Los Angeles Master Chorale (The Song of Significance – 2024), ACDA Eastern (Dedication – 2024), the University of Miami Frost Chorale (His Eye is On the Sparrow – 2023), the Neue Kammer of Leipzig (Blühende Bäume – 2021), the California Choral Directors Association (She Lingers On – 2020), and Tonality (Can You See – 2019). Her published works are available from MusicSpoke, E.B. Marks Music, Pavane Publishing, Oxford University Press, Gentry Publications, Hinshaw Music, and Stainer and Bell.
In 2026, she joined the composition faculty of the International Choral Conducting Institute, a week-long immersive program dedicated to nurturing & instructing choral composers and lyricists of all levels while connecting them with real-world editors and publishers. She served as an adjudicator for the CCDA ECCO Heussenstamm Choral Composition Contest and the Chicago a cappella HerVoice Emerging Woman Composers Competition from 2021-2024. Since 2019, she has served on panels and participated in clinics and sessions at choral conferences and workshops across the country, building support for choral composers at various stages of their careers.
Teaching, coaching, and mentoring are vital components to her artistic ecosystem. Her activities as a clinician and guest conductor include serving as 2026 Jazz Madridals Clinician at NAU, 2025 KMEA All-State SSAA Conductor, 2023 Guest Clinician for Education Through Music-Los Angeles’s 13th Annual “Music Unites the World” Festival, 2023 Guest Conductor at Carnegie Hall for the historic performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast with the Harvard-Westlake Symphony Orchestra and the National Concert Chorus, and 2022 New Hampshire All-State SSAA Clinician. She taught private voice for more than a decade and has served as an adjudicator for the Southern California Vocal Association High School Vocal Competition for multiple terms. As a performing arts instructor at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, CA (HW), she conducts the upper school Chamber Singers, Jazz Singers, Bel Canto treble choir, and Wolverine Chorus for beginning mixed voices. Under her direction, the HW choirs have sung at Carnegie Hall three times and have toured Canada, Italy, England, and Costa Rica. While studying at the University of Southern California (USC), she conducted the USC Thornton University Chorus for two years. Prior to this, she worked at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) for 7 years where she was the director of classical choirs and taught vocal fundamentals, sight singing, and music theory. Under her direction, the LACHSA Classical Choirs performed for numerous festivals, concerts, and special events at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and in other venues throughout Southern California. She has also held collegiate teaching positions in choral music and choral arranging at Glendale Community College, CSU Los Angeles, and Cal Poly Pomona.
Dr. Robles is committed to supporting and engaging authentically with her local choral community, especially non-profit choral arts organizations and including faith- and community-based choral groups. For more than 25 years she has served as a music director and vocalist for various faith communities, with extensive experience serving in Episcopalian, Unitarian Universalist, Catholic, Jewish, Black Baptist, and Evangelical congregations. Through her company Stewart Robles Music and her non-profit organization the ZSR Singers, she mentors undergraduate choral students and strives to create intergenerational artistic experiences while inspiring and cultivating cultural, intellectual, and spiritual engagement through choral music. She has served as Repertoire and Resources Chair for Choral Composition for the California Choral Directors Association; as chair of the board of directors for the Grammy-award-winning Los Angeles-based choral group Tonality; as president of the Altadena-based George Robert Garner III branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians; and as music director for “Project Messiah” with Street Symphony – an organization that engages communities directly affected by homelessness and incarceration in LA County through performances, workshops, and teaching artistry.
As a concert soprano soloist, studio vocalist for film and television, and professional ensemble singer, Dr. Robles has sung throughout the United States, and in parts of Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Her film, television, and video game credits include “Glee,” “Tinkerbell: Pirate Fairy,” “Godzilla,” “Minions,” “Creed,” “The Lego Movie,” “Despicable Me 3,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Venom,” “Game of Thrones in Concert,” “Smallfoot,” “Frozen 2,” “Mulan,” “Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War,” “NieR in Concert,” “The Lion King 30th Anniversary Concert,” “The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour,” “Wicked,” and “Sinners, and “Wicked: For Good.”
Born, raised, and educated in Southern California, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, a Master of Music degree from CSU Northridge, a Bachelor of Music degree from CSU Long Beach, and she is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
Short biography – General
Hailed as a “composer of energized and soulful music,” Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an acclaimed black American female composer, teacher, singer, and conductor who specializes in choral music. For more than three decades, she has dedicated herself to sharing her creativity, stylistic versatility, and intense passion for music-making with people of all ages and identities from all over the world. Born, raised, and educated in Southern California, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, a Master of Music degree from CSU Northridge, a Bachelor of Music degree from CSU Long Beach, and she is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
Composer
Hailed as a “composer of energized and soulful music,” Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an acclaimed black American female composer, teacher, singer, and conductor who specializes in choral music. She has received commissions from various organizations including the American Guild of Organists (O Magnum Mysterium – 2026), American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) (The Summit is Nigh – 2025), the Los Angeles Master Chorale (The Song of Significance – 2024), ACDA Eastern (Dedication – 2024), the University of Miami Frost Chorale (His Eye is On the Sparrow – 2023), the Neue Kammer of Leipzig (Blühende Bäume – 2021), the California Choral Directors Association (She Lingers On – 2020), and Tonality (Can You See – 2019). Her published works are available from MusicSpoke, E.B. Marks Music, Pavane Publishing, Oxford University Press, Gentry Publications, Hinshaw Music, and Stainer and Bell.
In 2026, she joined the composition faculty of the International Choral Conducting Institute, a week-long immersive program dedicated to nurturing and instructing choral composers and lyricists of all levels while connecting them with real-world editors and publishers. She served as an adjudicator for the CCDA ECCO Heussenstamm Choral Composition Contest and the Chicago a cappella HerVoice Emerging Woman Composers Competition from 2021-2024. Since 2019, she has served on panels and participated in clinics and sessions at choral conferences and workshops across the country, building support for choral composers at various stages of their careers.
Born, raised, and educated in Southern California, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, a Master of Music degree from CSU Northridge, a Bachelor of Music degree from CSU Long Beach, and she is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
Conductor/Clinician
Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an acclaimed black American female composer, teacher, singer, and conductor who specializes in choral music. For more than three decades, she has dedicated herself to sharing her creativity, stylistic versatility, and intense passion for music-making with people of all ages and identities from all over the world.
Teaching, coaching, and mentoring are vital components to her artistic ecosystem. Her activities as a clinician and guest conductor include serving as 2026 Jazz Madridals Clinician at NAU, 2025 KMEA All-State SSAA Conductor, 2023 Guest Clinician for Education Through Music-Los Angeles’s 13th Annual “Music Unites the World” Festival, 2023 Guest Conductor at Carnegie Hall for the historic performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast with the Harvard-Westlake Symphony Orchestra and the National Concert Chorus, and 2022 New Hampshire All-State SSAA Clinician. She taught private voice for more than a decade and has served as an adjudicator for the Southern California Vocal Association High School Vocal Competition for multiple terms. Through her company Stewart Robles Music and her non-profit organization the ZSR Singers, she mentors undergraduate choral students and strives to create intergenerational artistic experiences while inspiring and cultivating cultural, intellectual, and spiritual engagement through choral music. As a performing arts instructor at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, CA (HW), she conducts the upper school Chamber Singers, Jazz Singers, Bel Canto treble choir, and Wolverine Chorus for beginning mixed voices. Under her direction, the HW choirs have sung at Carnegie Hall three times and have toured Canada, Italy, England, and Costa Rica. While studying at the University of Southern California (USC), she conducted the USC Thornton University Chorus for two years. Prior to this, she worked at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) for 7 years where she was the director of classical choirs and taught vocal fundamentals, sight singing, and music theory. Under her direction, the LACHSA Classical Choirs performed for numerous festivals, concerts, and special events at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and in other venues throughout Southern California. She has also held collegiate teaching positions in choral music and choral arranging at Glendale Community College, CSU Los Angeles, and Cal Poly Pomona.
Born, raised, and educated in Southern California, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, a Master of Music degree from CSU Northridge, a Bachelor of Music degree from CSU Long Beach, and she is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
Vocalist
Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an acclaimed black American female composer, teacher, singer, and conductor who specializes in choral music. For more than three decades, she has dedicated herself to sharing her creativity, stylistic versatility, and intense passion for music-making with people of all ages and identities from all over the world.
As a concert soprano soloist, studio vocalist for film and television, and professional ensemble singer, Dr. Robles has sung throughout the United States, and in parts of Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Her film, television, and video game credits include “Glee,” “Tinkerbell: Pirate Fairy,” “Godzilla,” “Minions,” “Creed,” “The Lego Movie,” “Despicable Me 3,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Venom,” “Game of Thrones in Concert,” “Smallfoot,” “Frozen 2,” “Mulan,” “Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War,” “NieR in Concert,” “The Lion King 30th Anniversary Concert,” “The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour,” “Wicked,” and “Sinners, and “Wicked: For Good.” She taught private voice for more than a decade and has served as an adjudicator for the Southern California Vocal Association High School Vocal Competition for multiple terms.
Born, raised, and educated in Southern California, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, a Master of Music degree from CSU Northridge, a Bachelor of Music degree from CSU Long Beach, and she is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
