Dr. Tony Leach of Pennsylvania State University.

              This years Foundation Concert will be guest conducted by Dr.Tony Leach. Tony Leach, associate professor of music and music education at The Pennsylvania State University is director of The University Choir, Essence of Joy and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music education. Leach holds a Ph.D. in music education, the  M.M. in conducting from Penn State University and the B.S. in Music Education from Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA.
            Dr. Leach taught music in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York City for fourteen years. His choirs have performed at festivals throughout the United States and Canada as well as tours of England, Scotland, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Luxemborg, France and South Africa. Essence of Joy at Penn State University organized by Leach in 1991 has performed for regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association as well as the Music Educators National Conference. He also served for ten years as music consultant at the Maryland Summer Center For The Arts at Goucher College, Towson, MD. He has appeared as a guest conductor for choral festivals and workshops in Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Utah, Vermont, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina and Connecticut, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. Leach was co-conductor of the 2004 World Youth Choir sponsored by the International Federation of Choral Musicians in South Korea. He was an accompanist for The United Negro College Fund Choir (NYC) and has accompanied the Howard University Concert Choir, Washington, D.C.
            For 23 years, Leach served as music director of the Capital Area Music Association, Harrisburg, PA. He is a past national chair of the American Choral Directors Association Repertoire & Standards Committee on Multicultural & Ethnic Perspectives. Currently, he serves as minister of music and organist at New Bethel Baptist Church, Washington, DC and as chair of the ACDA Eastern Division Repertoire and Standards Committee on Ethnic and Multicultural Choirs.
            Dr. Leach has presented seminars and workshops for numerous professional and music organizations in America and beyond. Some of the seminar topics have included the following: ‘Print Resources in Black Gospel Music for Choral Directors.’ ‘Two Generations of Burleigh: Harry T. Burleigh and Glenn E. Burleigh,’ ‘Black Gospel Music: Strategies and Techniques for Performance and Non-Performance Music Classes.’ His article, “Does Gospel Music Have a Place In General Music?” was published in General Music Today, Winter, 1993. His seminar ‘A Spiritual For The New Millennium’ was presented at the Second IFCM Multicultural and Ethnic Conference held in Jokkmokk, Sweden in 2003. New arrangements of African American Spirituals by Moses Hogan, Marvin Curtis, Rosephanye Powell, Roland Carter, Keith Hampton, Glenn Burleigh and Robert Morris were included in this presentation. As a recitalist, Dr. Leach has presented organ dedications and concerts in the eastern region of the United States as well as Ohio. He is also a piano accompanist for numerous faculty and student recitals at Penn State. He is a member of The American Guild of Organists, American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, and The Gospel Music Workshop of America.

The Foundation Concert will be held on the 25th of January.