Sponsors Conductors Alan L. Baker, D.M.A. Artistic Director - Conductor An Associate Professor of Music at Bloomsburg University, Alan Baker has served as the Society's Artistic Director since its formation in 1999.  Conducting the Society's Symphonic Chorus and the adult chamber ensemble, Choral Artists of Northeast Pennsylvania, he also guides and performs with the acclaimed professional vocal ensemble, The Lyric Consort.  From 1994-1998, Dr. Baker served as the Artistic Director of the Wyoming Valley Children's Chorus, and coordinated the choral/vocal programs of the Encore Music Camp of Pennsylvania.  In 1999, he assumed similar responsibilities with the Young Artists program of Wyoming Seminary's summer Performing Arts Institute in Kingston, Pennsylvania.  A native of Springfield, Missouri; Dr. Baker holds advanced degrees from Temple and Stanford Universities, and has taught on the faculties of Temple University, California State University-Chico, Glassboro State College, and Wilkes University, where as Director of Choral and Vocal Program from 1993-1997, he founded the University's Opera Workshop and was honored in 1996 with an "Outstanding Faculty" designation from the School of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.  In 2002, he was similarly honored with the "Dean's Salute to Excellence" from Bloomsburg University's College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Baker is a former president of the Pennsylvania Collegiate Choral Association and the current PA-ACDA Repertoire and Standards Chair for Male Choruses.  He has recorded for Lyrichord Records with the studio ensemble, Schola Discantus, for Stanford University Recordings, and most recently with The Lyric Consort for WVIA and Lyric Discs.  He has conducted high-school and middle-school honor choruses throughout northeastern Pennsylvania, and as a pedagogue, his students have been selected to national honor choruses and conducting competitions, as well as the country's most prestigious graduate programs. Susan M. Kelly Director of Children's and Youth Programs - Conductor A summa cum laude graduate of Wilkes University with degrees in Music Education and English Education, Susan Kelly recently completed graduate studies in Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance at Temple University, where she was a recipient of a full teaching assistantship in the Aural Theory department.  Currently she is the director of the Kantorei and Cantare Choirs of the Choral Society as well as the Director of the Children's and Youth Program, director of adult and teen choirs at the First Presbyterian Church of Clarks Summit, a voice teacher with the Wilkes University Community Conservatory, a faculty member of the Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary, a teacher at the Mid-Valley School District's secondary center, and a member of the eight-voice professional vocal ensemble The Lyric Consort. Leslie Mason Moran Conductor and Accompanist Leslie Mason Moran, director of the Society's youngest ensemble, Cantus Novus, and accompanist for Kantorei and Cantare, is a magna cum laude graduate of the Hartt School of Music where she obtained certification in the Kodaly method of music instruction.  Mrs. Moran is employed by the Mid-Valley School District, as a band and choral director for the elementary center, is the soprano soloist for St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Scranton, and a member of the professional vocal ensemble The Lyric Consort.  A voice teacher for the Wilkes University Community Conservatory and the Marywood University School of Continuing Education, Ms. Moran is also a voice/choral faculty member of the Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary. Jodi Rhineheimer Conductor A graduate of Marywood University receiving bachelor and Masters Degrees in Music Education, Ms. Rinehimer also holds certifications in Kodaly Methodology from the Hartt School of Music and in Orff Schulwerk from George Mason University.  Director of Choral Activities at Lackawanna Trail High School in Factoryville, she also directs the Cantilena, Chanteuses and Camerata ensembles of the Choral Society of Northeast Pennsylvania.  In May of 2005, Ms. Rinehimer was appointed to the staff of the Berk's Classical Children's Chorus, where she will direct the organization's MasterSingers, an auditioned chorus of high school voices.  A member of the professional vocal ensemble The Lyric Consort, she is also active in the education of children, and in this capacity has served on the faculties of the Encore Music Camp of Pennsylvania, the Wilkes Community Conservatory, and the summer Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary, where she currently directs Music Makers, a summer program for children age 7-9. Support Staff Linda Phillips Orseck Accompanist and Professional Singer/Soprano, Scranton Singing with the community choral groups in Northeastern Pennsylvania since her college years, Linda Phillips Orseck received her musical training at Wilkes College as a student of Anne Vanko Liva and Richard Chapline. She has also studied keyboard music with with Bronis Voveris and Dr. Michael Haberkorn, voice with Dr. Stephen Barton, and flute with William Gasparo.  She has served as both accompanist and section leader for the choirs of the Choral Society of NEPA and their predecessor groups since 1991.  In addition to her positions with the Choral Society, she has performed with several musical and theatrical organizations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia; most recently with The Wyoming Valley Oratorio Society, Singers' Guild of Scranton, Zusammen, and the Music Box Players. Active as a musical director in local theater and as a director for several area church choirs, Ms. Orseck has also worked extensively as a professional counselor to children and youth. In 1999 she assumed the position as Director of Liturgical Music for St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton and in 2004, assumed directorship of the region's Catholic Choral Society.  She also continues to maintain an active piano and voice studio in the area. Walter Umla Accompanist Walter Umla began piano studies at age eleven and organ studies at age twelve and in 1962 graduated from Wilkes College with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Music Education.  His early piano and organ studies were with Gwyn Evans while at Wilkes he studied both instruments with Clifford E. Balshaw.  As a choral performer and educator, he completed further graduate work including master classes with Fred Waring, Roger Wagner, and Robert Shaw, and for thirty-four years, taught vocal music in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District until retiring in 1996.  He has also served the congregations of the Westmoor Church of Christ, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church of Kingston, and Westminster Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre as both an organist and choir director, and is presently organist-choirmaster for the Episcopal Church of St. Clement and St. Peter in Wilkes-Barre. Francis C. McMullen Professional Singer/Bass, Scranton Francis Carroll McMullen received his degree from Wilkes College, where he studied tuba with Jerome Campbell and voice with Richard Chapline.  McMullen has been featured as a lyric baritone soloist with the Wyoming Valley Oratorio Society, the Singers' Guild of Scranton, the Wyoming County Chorale, the Sullivan County Chorale, the College Misericordia Choral Society, and the Choral Society of Northeast Pennsylvania.  McMullen also sings with the renowned Lyric Consort, which he co-founded, and is a member of the Quartet of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Scranton.  Fran can also be found occasionally in saloons and bowling alleys in the company of a gang of men known variously as "Four Men and an Alto," a notorious male a cappella group in the tradition of the Revellers, Comedian Harmonists, Hudson Shad, and other "disturbers of the peace." McMullen is the Technical Director at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, has been part-time classical music host for WVIA-FM, and has been an adjunct instructor of music at Wilkes College and College Misericordia. Carl Shinko Professional Singer/Tenor, Wilkes-Barre Carl Shinko studied music education at Mansfield University and earned a B.A. in music performance with a concentration in voice from Bloomsburg University.  He conducts the Wyoming County Chorale, works as Director of Music for Nativity BVM Church in Tunkhannock, and serves as First Substitute to the Lyric Consort.  He recently held positions as Director of Music at Church of Christ Uniting and as chorus/foreign language teacher at Wyoming Valley Montessori School, both in Kingston, as well as voice instructor for the Bloomsburg University Music Preparatory Program.  Shinko presently freelances as performer and as an audio recording engineer, and operates his own private studio for the instruction of voice, piano, guitar, and music theory.  He also performs with the professional a cappella male quintet, Four Men and an Alto and his own one-man, four-part a cappella recording project, The Shinko Singers.