Henry Leck

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