SATB Choir
Henry H. Leck
Founder and Artistic Director, Indianapoilis Children's Choir
Director of Choral Activities, Butler University
Indianapolis, IN

     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 choirprograms 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. Mr. 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. In the spring of 2003, he conducted the ACDA National Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in New York City and on three occasions has conducted National Honor Choirs for OAKE. In 2011 Mr. Leck conducted the ACDA National Children’s Honor Choir. Mr. Leck has conducted many international festivals including the Musica Mundi Tuscany Children’s Choir Festival in Montecatini, Florence and Rome, Italy, the Canterbury Festival in England, the Central European International Children’s Choral Festival, the International Children’s Choir Festival in Beijing, China and the Vienna Children’s & Boys Choir Festival with the Vienna Sangerknaben. He has conducted many times in Brazil, including the Curso Internacional de Regencia Coral in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil where he founded the ARCI Sao Paulo Children’s Honor Choir that he conducts every other year. He recently conducted the Tokyo International HS Honor Choir in Japan. Mr. Leck has served as a clinician for the Australian National Choral Association and the Royal School of Church Music. For twenty-one years, he has conducted the National Youth Choral Festival in Carnegie Hall.
     Mr. Leck is widely known as a specialist in choral techniques, the child's voice, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and the boy's changing voice. He has produced four teaching videos titled Vocal Techniques for the Young Singer, The Boy’s Expanding Voice: Take the High Road, Creating Artistry through Movement, Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Creating Artistry with the Male Maturing Voice. He was 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 written a textbook entitled, Creating Artistry through Choral Excellence.
     In 2007, Mr. Leck received the prestigious Indiana Governor’s Art Award, the highest state honor that can be received in the arts. He was also awarded the Indiana Creative Arts Fellowship Renewal Grant that same year. While on sabbatical in 2008, he studied music performance practice in South Africa and collected choral music. He received the Cultural Vision Award from Nuvo magazine. He was named the "Outstanding University Music Educator of the Year" by the IMEA in 1992.
     Mr. Leck is certified as a "Kodaly" instructor and is an active member of ACDA, OAKE, MENC, AOSA and Pi Kappa Lambda. Mr. Leck received his training from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, the University of Colorado and Indiana University, where he received a master's degree in choral conducting

TTBB Choir
Dr. Craig Jessop
Dean for the Caine College of the Arts, Utah State University, Logan, UT

     Dr. Craig Jessop, Professor of Music, is the newly appointed and founding Dean for the Caine College of theArts at Utah State University.  These appointments follow Dr. Jessop’s distinguished tenure as music director of the world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Head of the Department of Music at Utah State.    He is the founder and Music Director of the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra and has served as the music director of the Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival sponsored by the Weill Institute of Music at Carnegie Hall. Prior to hisappointment with the Tabernacle Choir, Dr. Jessop was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force music programs, where he served as director of the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants in Washington, D.C. (1980-1987); as commander and conductor of the Band of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe at Ramstein, Germany (1987-1991); and as commander and conductor of the Air Combat Command Heartland of America Band (1991-1995).  He has also been music director of the Maryland Choral Society, the Rhineland-Pfalz International Choir of Germany and the Omaha Symphonic Chorus. 
     Dr. Jessop has a Bachelor of Science from Utah State University, 1973;  Master of Arts from Brigham Young University, 1976; and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from Stanford University, 1980.
     Dr.  Jessop has been on the American choral scene for more than thirty years. Under Dr. Jessop’s musical direction, the Tabernacle Choir received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Arts. He has recorded over 15 CDs on the Telarc and MTC labels with the Choir and most recently received a Grammy nomination for his work with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square.
      At the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Dr. Jessop conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony, working with world-renowned artists Sting and Yo-Yo Ma, and composers John Williams and Michael Kamen. Other artists with whom he has collaborated include Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, Audra McDonald, The King’s Singers, Angela Lansbury, Claire Bloom, Walter Cronkite, and Charles Osgood. In 2003, Dr. Jessop conducted the choir and prepared the singers for a performance of  A German Requiem at the prestigious Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Rafael Frübeck de Burgos. A much sought-after guest conductor, Dr. Jessop has conducted the Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival sponsored by the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall and the Berkshire Choral Festival.
     In addition to his work as a conductor, Dr. Jessop has been active as a baritone vocalist, first as a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and later with the choirs of Helmuth Rilling and John Rutter and with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. He is a previous winner of the Metropolitan Opera regional auditions and San Francisco Opera auditions, and has participated in the Merola Opera training program of the San Francisco Opera.  
      He lives in the peaceful setting of the northern Utah valley of Cache County with his wife RaNae. They are the parents of four children and have five wonderful grandsons.

• All State Chorus Acceptance Form (Form D) (must contain all   signatures) due to State Choral Chair. • All State Medical Form (one per student) due to State Choral Chair.
• All State Rules and Regulations for Participation Form
 (one per student) due to State Choral Chair.
• All State Chorus Music Order Form due to KMEA Office.