Hal H Hopson

Hal H. Hopson (1933–2025) was a full‑time composer/church music clinician who resided in Dallas, Texas. He had over 1,000 published works, which included almost every musical form in church music. With a special interest in congregational song, he made significant contributions to the new repertoire of hymn tunes and responsorial psalm settings as evidenced by the proliferation of his settings that were included in hymnals and psalm collections.

His cantata, God with Us, was one of the few compositions selected by a panel at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., to be placed in a capsule during the American Bicentennial in 1976. The capsule will be opened at the Tricentennial in 2076 and will be heard again as a representative piece of American choral composition of the twentieth century.

Mr. Hopson was active as a conductor and clinician, having conducted choral festivals and workshops in this country, Europe, and Asia. More recently he was recognized for his contribution to music by being included in The International Who's Who in Music, Cambridge, England, and by being awarded the esteemed title of National Patron by Delta Omicron, a national professional fraternity of musicians. He was active in several professional organizations, having served on the national boards of The Presbyterian Association of Musicians and Choristers Guild. As a member of ASCAP, Mr. Hopson received an annual award from that agency for many consecutive years.