Joshua Harper, D.Mus.
Artistic Director & Conductor
Praised for his “inspired” conducting (The Daily Courier – Arizona), Dr. Joshua Harper is currently the Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Wilkes University, where he conducts the Chamber Singers and University Chorus. He also teaches music theory and private voice, while serving as the musical director for many of the B.F.A.’s musical productions. Harper was named the second Artistic Director of the Choral Society of Northeast Pennsylvania in June of 2024, now entering their 28th season. Their first two seasons together have produced some of the region’s most acclaimed performances, including their production of “Duruflé’s Requiem” in November 2025 to a standing-room-only crowd at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre. The ensemble also regularly performs with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, where Dr. Harper prepares the ensemble for Maestra Mélisse Brunet. Harper is the founder of the Quartz Ensemble, a fully professional chamber choir drawing singers from across the country of international renown. Following on the heels of their acclaimed performance of St. John’s Passion in March of 2025 with the Arizona Philharmonic, Quartz Ensemble traveled in Spring of 2026 to be in residence with the Vocal Arts Conservatory at the California School for the Arts – San Gabriel and Citrus College, where he helped prepare a performance of Carmina Burana as well as conducting Evensong with a talented roster of multiple Grammy-nominated singers.
Dr. Harper has performed on some of the nation’s largest stages, including Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He maintains an active schedule singing and adjudicating across Pennsylvania, including being asked to step in at the last minute as the conductor for the PMEA District #9 Chorus in March 2025. He has also adjudicated and cliniced festivals in Massachusetts, Vermont, Arizona, Idaho, and Tennessee. Harper can be found on Parma Recordings’ 2019 release “Preach, Sister, Preach” featuring soprano Katherine Jolly, where he conducted the premiere recording of Katherine Bodor’s Absent an Adjustment. In January 2016, he made his Canadian debut as one of the five conductors in North America invited to participate in the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s “Emerging Conductor Symposium,” where he conducted the Grammy-nominated Elora Festival Singers and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Joshua was selected as a Conducting Fellow at the Yale University Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in 2015, studying with Simon Carrington.
A native of Huntsville, Alabama, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance and Music Composition from Lipscomb University (Nashville, TN), the Master of Music degree in choral conducting from UMass Amherst, and the Doctor of Music degree from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, with a minor in Music History and Literature. He is an avid supporter of Chelsea Football Club.
Ron Stabinsky
Collaborative Pianist
Ron received his first musical lessons at the age of five from Michael Hoysock, his grandfather. He was later a student of Anne Vanko Liva in Scranton, PA. In 1995 he received a Bachelor of Music degree from Wilkes University, where he was a student of Thomas Hrynkiw. He has been featured as piano soloist with orchestras including the Schuylkill Symphony Orchestra (Pottsville, PA) in 1991 and 1996 and the Wyoming Seminary/Performing Arts Institute Civic Symphony Orchestra (Kingston,PA) in 2008. Ron has spent many summers accompanying and teaching at Encore Music Camp of Pennsylvania and Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, PA. Ron has performed in Arizona, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and throughout the Northeast. Outside the United States, he has played in Germany, Spain, England and Belgium. From 2004-2008, Ron worked extensively on a series of performances of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas with violinist Sophie Till. In January 2007, he began presenting a series of music performances, primarily but not exclusively focused on improvisation, in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He received Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Project Grants in 2007 and 2008 for this series. Since 2000, Ron has been studying the Taubman Approach to piano playing with Edna Golandsky in New York City. He is also a piano student of Ilya Itin. His mentors in the art of improvisation include Bill Dixon in Vermont and Joel Futterman in Virginia. He also studies jazz through correspondence with Charlie Banacos. Ron was the 2008 recipient of the F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship.
Coming SOON!
Soprano Section Leader
Lisa Cardoni
Alto Section Leader
Alto Section Leader, Lisa Cardoni, has over 40 years of performing experience. She is a founding member of the Choral Society and a previous singer with the small chamber group, Zussamen. She is also a member of Northeast PA’s premier a capella ensemble, The Lyric Consort. She is a soloist at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Wilkes-Barre and resides in Wyoming.
Frank Spencer
Tenor Section Leader
Frank Spencer, Tenor, sings locally with The Lyric Consort and as a section leader for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Pro-Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre. In addition, he is a soloist and musical collaborator at Temple B’nai B’rith in Kingston. His education earned him dual Bachelor’s degrees in Voice Performance and Music Education from Wilkes University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. He also proudly served in The United States Navy as a vocalist in both concert and rock bands, regularly performing ceremonial solos. When not singing, he is currently employed full-time at St. Stephen’s as their Sexton.
Adam Hitchcock
Tenor Section Leader
Adam Hitchcock is an experienced tenor section leader and soloist, with over 20 years of performing in choral groups such as the Choral Society of NEPA, the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Pro-Cathedral choir, and the Mansfield University Festival Chorus. Adam is a frequent soloist throughout NEPA at weddings, funerals, and other events. Adam is also an experienced trumpeter, playing with ensembles and as a soloist throughout New York and Pennsylvania. He has been a founder of several brass quintets in New York and played in the Syracuse Jazz Festival with Wynton Marsalis. Adam lives in Blakely with his wife Jessica and daughter Rachel.
Zackery Drake
Bass Section Leader
Graduating from high school with a focus in music, Zackery Drake is now pursuing higher education at Wilkes University with a focus in Computer Science. As a musician, he regularly performs with the Choral Society of NEPA, the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Pro-Cathedral choir, the Wilkes University Chamber Singers, and plays clarinet for the Civic band of Wilkes University.”
Alan L. Baker, D.M.A.
Founder & Director Emeritus
A Professor of Music at Bloomsburg University, Alan Baker served as the Society’s Artistic Director since its formation in 1999 through his retirement in 2024. Conducting the Society’s Symphonic Chorus and its adult chamber ensemble, the Choral Artists of Northeast Pennsylvania, he also guides and performs with the professional vocal ensemble, The Lyric Consort. From 1994-1998, Dr. Baker served as the Artistic Director of the Wyoming Valley Children’s Chorus, and coordinated the choral/vocal programs of the Encore Music Camp of Pennsylvania, and from 1999-2001, he assumed similar responsibilities with the Young Artists program of Wyoming Seminary’s summer Performing Arts Institute in Kingston, Pennsylvania.
A native of Springfield, Missouri; Dr. Baker holds advanced degrees from Temple and Stanford Universities, and has taught on the faculties of Temple University, California State University-Chico, Glassboro State College, and Wilkes University, where as Director of Choral and Vocal Program from 1993-1997, he founded the University’s Opera Workshop and Early Music Ensemble and was honored in 1996 with an “Outstanding Faculty” designation from the School of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. In 2002, he was similarly honored with the “Dean’s Salute to Excellence” from Bloomsburg University’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Baker has served as president of the Pennsylvania Collegiate Choral Association and the Repertoire and Standards Chair for Male Choruses with Pennsylvania ACDA. He has also served the executive committee of the latter organization as its treasurer, and has twice been invited to sit on the choral/opera review panel for the PA Council on the Arts. Dr. Baker has recorded for Lyrichord Records with the studio ensemble, Schola Discantus, for Stanford University Recordings, and most recently with The Lyric Consort for WVIA and Lyric Discs.
Dr. Baker was appointed Director Emeritus by the Board of Directors of the Choral Society in November 2024.