Merritt Schumann (1922 - 2010), a native of Colorado, was born in Montrose and resided in Rulison and Loveland. He graduated from Loveland High School, Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska and The University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. He was a veteran of the European campaign in World War II.
Mr. Schumann was a protégé of Dr. John F. Williamson, President and founder of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and a contemporary of Robert Shaw. He conducted choirs at all levels and enjoyed wide recognition for his “high degree of excellence” as a choral conductor in the United States and Canada. Mr. Schumann’s students have achieved national acclaim and performed with such organizations as the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and both the Robert Shaw and Roger Wagner Chorales.
At the extraordinary age of seventy-one, Mr. Schumann established the Schumann Singers to share his love of music and to teach vocal excellence in western Colorado.