Henry Leck, Founder and Artistic Director- Indianapolis
Children's Choir, Director of Choral Activities
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, 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 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.
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 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. Mr. Leck has conducted many international festivals including
the Musica Mundi Tuscany Children's Choir Festival in Montecatini,
Florence and Rome, Italy, 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.
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 14 years, he has conducted
the National Youth Choral Festival in Carnegie Hall.
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, the
University of Colorado and Indiana University, where he received a
master's degree in choral conducting. Mr. Leck's studio grand piano
is provided by Meridian Music.
(317) 940-9633
hleck@butler.edu