Susquehanna Chorale finds a familiar home at Messiah

Chorale becomes College’s newest ensemble-in-residence

Click here to visit the Susquehanna Chorale's Web page where you can listen to samples of their recordings

Messiah College welcomes a new group of prestigious performers to the campus this year. The Susquehanna Chorale has become an ensemble-in-residence at Messiah, relocating from the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, Pa., to the College in July. “The chorale will eventually perform at Messiah, though right now, the nature of the residency is a partnership,” says Deb Randolph, administrative director of the chorale.

In its quest to promote the choral arts, the chorale has been active for many years in the Central Pennsylvania area, providing programs such as the Susquehanna Youth, Young Women’s, and the Susquehanna Children’s chorales for students who range from fourth grade to college age. The group also has worked extensively with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. Outside the Pennsylvania area, the chorale has performed throughout Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

While the chorale performs all forms of chamber music, Linda Tedford—artistic director and founder of the group and director of choral activities at Messiah for the past 12 years—prefers to use compositions created by living and American composers, such as Eric Whitacre and Stephen Paulus.

The chorale consists of 35 members, many of whom are alumni or Messiah College faculty members. “The connection with Messiah was something that already existed; it’s now just more formal,” says Tedford.The chorale’s longstanding relationship with Messiah, along with the anticipated construction of a new campus Worship and Performing Arts Center, were major considerations for the group to become Messiah College’s latest ensemble-in-residence.

For the 2009 holiday season, the chorale will perform three candlelight Christmas concerts in December. The group will play at Market Square Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18; at Leffler Chapel on Elizabethtown College’s campus in Elizabethtown, Pa., at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19; and at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Camp Hill, Pa., at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20.

 —Abigail Long ’12