Penn State Forum Speaker Series - Jan. 15, 2010

Anthony T. Leach

Penn State Laureate

"M.L. King Holiday -- a Choral Reflection"

Leach, associate professor of music and music education at Penn State, is director of the University choir "Essence of Joy" and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music education.  Leach holds a doctorate in music education, a master of music in conducting from Penn State and a bachelor's degree in music education from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA.

Leach taught music in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York City for 14 years.  His choirs have performed at festivals throughout the United States and Canada, and in England, France, Scotland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Australia and South Africa.  He has served as a guest-conductor for international choral events in Taiwan, the Philippines, Venezuela, France and Japan.  He also served for 10 years as music consultant at the Maryland Summer Center for the Arts at Goucher College, Towson, MD

For 23 years, Leach served as music director of the Capital Area Music Association in Harrisburg, PA.  He is a past national chair of the American Choral Directors Association Repertoire and Standards Committee on Multicultural and Ethnic Perspectives.  Currently, he serves as minister of music and organist at New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, DC and as chair of the ACDA Eastern Division Urban Coalition.