John P. Leonard, 2019-2020

John P. Leonard served as Acting Artistic Director of Mendelssohn Chorus for the 2019–2010 season. Dr. Leonard previously served as the Associate Conductor of Mendelssohn Club from 2015–2018 under Paul Rardin and Conducting Apprentice under Alan Harler. Leonard is currently the Director of Choral Activities at The College of New Jersey, where he has led TCNJ’s choral ensembles in performances throughout the region, including multiple concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Lincoln Center and for the “Great Music at St. Bart’s” concert series at St. Bartholomew’s in New York City. As Acting Artistic Director of Mendelssohn Chorus, he led the chorus in a breath-taking and sold-out performance of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil and a triumphant performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy. When the 2019-2020 performance season was cut short by the Coronavirus Pandemic, John Leonard produced the first Mendelssohn Chorus virtual chorus performance, a premiere of Ola Gjeilo’s “Roots“, which was featured in the Chorus America 2020 Virtual Conference.