Guest Blog Post: The Susquehanna Chorale—Its Legacy and Its Future
Anne Moul is a singer for the Susquehanna Chorale, a Presser Foundation grantee.
On a September evening in 1981, inside historic St. Peter’s Kierch in Middletown, Pennsylvania, a small group of singers called the Susquehanna Chorale performed for the first time. Linda Tedford, a young conductor filled with passion, energy, and a dream began shaping what would become, in the words of the late, legendary conductor Robert Page, “a treasure in Central Pennsylvania.”
For over four decades, Linda and the board leadership of the Susquehanna Chorale have lived into the Chorale’s mission of “Enriching Lives Through Song,” by focusing on ways to reach broader audiences through the power of the choral art. Community engagement—whether through concerts, education, performances at civic events, or collaboration with other organizations—has always been at the forefront of that mission.
The Susquehanna Chorale family includes four educational choirs offering instruction and performance opportunities for young singers of all ages as well as choral conducting internships for college music majors. The choir has performed numerous times for ACDA and other professional conferences and performs major works with the Harrisburg Symphony, which will include a premier of Jonathan Leshoff’s Saul in April 2024. Throughout its history, the Chorale has commissioned and premiered new music by great composers including Libby Larsen, Bob Chilcott, Rollo Dilworth, and Dan Forrest.
From 1983 to 1998, the Susquehanna Chorale and Chamber Singers of Harrisburg sponsored the Central Pennsylvania Choral Festival which offered smaller regional choirs opportunities to work with internationally renowned guest conductors. More recently, the Chorale’s recordings have been included in an annual Christmas CD entitled Joy to the Burg, the sales of which support housing for the homeless in Harrisburg. In April, the Susquehanna Children’s Chorale will perform at a special ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda honoring the recipients of the Blue Ribbon Champions for Safe Kids awards, sponsored by the PA Family Support Alliance.
The Chorale has toured internationally, including a trip to Ireland in 2022, building relationships and understanding between cultures. During the pandemic, the Chorale reached listeners at a time when it was perhaps most needed through the production of virtual concerts, and now proudly offers full livestream access to its concerts. The Chorale leadership believes all audience members should have an opportunity to experience live performances, regardless of their ability to attend in person.
Throughout all of these accomplishments, Linda Tedford has been the driving force, committed not only to excellence in singing, but to grace and professionalism in all that she does as the Founder and Artistic Director of the Susquehanna Chorale. The Chorale looks forward to a bright future, albeit one that will eventually include a new Artistic Director as well as a restructuring of the administrative part of the organization. These are challenging and costly steps, but ones being undertaken with careful planning and visionary leadership from its Board of Directors.
In 2022, the Susquehanna Chorale received two unexpected and transformative gifts that opened opportunities for conversation about how best to move the Chorale into the future. Using those gifts as a foundation, the board voted to undertake a capital campaign to raise additional funds to hire a full-time Executive Director who would be responsible for the non-artistic elements of the organization.
“This is a bold and somewhat daunting decision, but one we believe is necessary. We’ve all seen groups struggle and even disband after the retirement of a founder or long-time Artistic Director, and we didn’t want that to happen to the Susquehanna Chorale,” stated board president Brian Moul. “We believe our mission of enriching lives through song needs to continue past Linda’s tenure. We also didn’t want to be in a situation where we were looking to hire both an Executive Director as well as a new Artistic Director. Having an Executive Director in place before Linda announces her retirement will make that process more efficient and productive.”
From that small group of singers gathered in a tiny church 43 years ago, Linda Tedford has created a community of singers, staff, board members, and listeners whose lives have been changed by voices raised in beautiful song. Not content to rest on its past accomplishments, the Susquehanna Chorale is striding boldly into the future, meeting the challenges of growth and change with the same dedication to excellence it brings to its music.
A note about Guest Blog Posts:
The Presser Foundation accepts guest blog posts. We are looking for blog posts that share an organization’s story, values, mission, goals, programming, and/or relevant trends and issues. Our audience are those interested in music philanthropy, arts and culture, and philanthropy in general. This includes current and prospective partners/grantees, fellow funders, media, arts and culture agencies and government organizations, philanthropy serving organizations, and individuals with a passion for music. We encourage you to reach out to Communications Manager, Abby Rolland at arolland@presserfoundation.org if you have questions about guest blog submissions.
