The Festival

Professor Henry H. Leck
Conductor and Clinician, Songs of Life Festival; Founder and Artistic Director, Indianapolis Children's Choir; Director of Choral Activities, Butler University

An internationally recognized choral director, Henry Leck is an associate professor and director of choral activities at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1986 he became founder and artistic director of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, one of the largest children’s choir programs in the world. The touring choirs of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir have performed regularly for national ACDA, MENC, OAKE and AOSA Conferences. Additionally, the ICC tours internationally every year and has sung in prestigious concert sites throughout Great Britain, Greece, Scandinavia, Central Europe, South America, Latin America, North America, Australia, New Zealand and China. In 2004, the touring choir performed in the Czech Republic and Russia, recording live with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in the famed Pavel Slobodkin Center for Music.

Prof. Leck is widely known as a specialist in choral techniques, the child's voice, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and the boy's changing voice. He authored the choral section of Silver Burdett music textbooks for grades 4, 5 and 6. He has produced three teaching videos titled Vocal Techniques for the Young Singer, The Boy’s Expanding Voice: Take the High Road and Creating Artistry through Movement, Dalcroze Eurhythmics. He is a lead author for the choral textbook series published by McGraw Hill/Glencoe titled Experiencing Choral Music and is also the editor of two nationally known choral series published by Hal Leonard Corporation and Colla Voce, Inc./Plymouth. Each year he teaches his conductor's workshop entitled Creating Artistry at venues across the country. He has recently completed his first textbook, Creating Artistry through Choral Excellence.

Prof. Leck founded the Indiana All-State Children's Honor Choir and the Indiana Middle/Junior High School Honor Choir, and has conducted Mixed, Men's, Women's, Junior High and Children's All-State choirs and festival choirs in nearly every state. He is a frequent conductor of regional and national honor choirs, including the ACDA Southern, Southwest, North Central, Central and Northwest Divisional Honors Choirs.

He is the artistic director of the highly acclaimed Pacific Rim Festival in Hawaii and the International Children's Choral Festival in Canterbury and London, England. For 15 years, he has conducted the National Youth Choral Festival in Carnegie Hall.

www.icchoir.org