Kevin Leong, Guest Conductor
The 2008-2009 concert season will be Kevin Leong's fifth season as Associate Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Choruses and his second year as a Pro Arte trustee. Along with directing the 175-voice Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus, he assists in conducting the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. Dr. Leong has worked with Jameson Marvin and the Harvard choruses over the past twelve years, having served as Acting Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club, Assistant Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, and Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club Alumni Chorus.
Dr. Leong has conducted various Harvard ensembles in many performances around the United States and abroad. He has recently toured with the Harvard Glee Club to Texas, the American Upper Midwest, and Central Europe; with the Radcliffe Choral Society to London; and with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum to Australia. As Resident Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra in 2003, he led that group in a performance of the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello and of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5.
Dr. Leong's teaching interests include presenting a wide repertoire to students, community singers, and audiences alike. This season's activities include performances of Poulenc's Gloria and Mozart's Requiem (a collaboration between Pro Arte and the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus), conducting a fall concert of German sacred music with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, leading the Harvard Glee Club on a spring tour to Ireland, and conducting the Radcliffe Choral Society in an annual Christmas concert. As a choral clinician, Dr. Leong also routinely works with high school ensembles from the United States and Canada.
Dr. Leong earned a doctoral degree in Choral Conducting from Boston University, where he studied with Ann Howard Jones, David Hoose, Craig Smith, and Jeremy Yudkin. At Harvard University, where he graduated with a Ph.D. in Biophysics, he serves as Associate in Music at Adams House. Dr. Leong has taught undergraduate courses in choral conducting at both Harvard and Boston University and has earned several teaching awards. He is a graduate of Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and directed the Princeton Katzenjammers. Dr. Leong has studied voice with Martha Elliott and performs regularly as a tenor with numerous choral ensembles in the Boston area. He appears with the Choir of the Church of the Advent on the Arsis label. Dr. Leong is a native of suburban Philadelphia.