David G. Beckwith, Ph. D
President

Dr. David G. Beckwith became President of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem in July 2004. He has been a member of the Board of Managers since 1981 and a Vice-President since 1994. He was also a singer in The Choir from 1976-2000 and was featured as a soloist, playing the roles of Pilate and Judas, in several performances of the Saint John and Saint Matthew Passions between 1984 and 1999. Dr. Beckwith is President and CEO of Health Network Laboratories. He received his doctoral degree in comparative virology from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. He is board certified in Medical and Public Health Microbiology by the American Board of Medical Microbiology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. In 1997, Dr. Beckwith was named one of the most interesting laboratory innovators by The Dark Report. Dr. Beckwith served as Director of Clinical Microbiology at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, PA for 15 years before becoming Clinical Director of Laboratories at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA. In 1994, he was named Vice President of Operations at that hospital with responsibility for the professional clinical services. In 1998, Health Network Laboratories was established as a for-profit Pennsylvania Limited Partnership with Dr. Beckwith as President, CEO and Clinical Director. In addition to his laboratory work, he is Chairman of the Board of Health in Bethlehem, PA.

Greg Funfgeld
Artistic Director & Conductor
Greg Funfgeld is now in his 25th season as the artistic director and conductor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and The Bach Festival Orchestra. Under his leadership, The Choir of 100 dedicated volunteer singers, performing with The Bach Festival Orchestra and world-renowned soloists, has achieved a level of musical excellence that has been recognized internationally.

In 2003, Mr. Funfgeld led The Choir on a triumphant eight-concert tour of the United Kingdom that included performances at the Cambridge Summer Music Festival in Kings College Chapel, Usher Hall in Edinburgh, and the prestigious BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall. The program included music by Bach and Mendelssohn and the world premiere of I It Am, a cantata by Libby Larsen, co-commissioned by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and the BBC.

Other Bach Choir tours have included a seven-city concert tour of Germany in 1995, including performances at Munich’s Herkulesaal and the Thomaskirche, Bach’s church in Leipzig. As part of The Bach Choir’s Centennial Celebration, Mr. Funfgeld directed performances by The Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra in Philadelphia, under the auspices of The Bach Festival of Philadelphia; at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; and at Carnegie Hall. Under Mr. Funfgeld’s leadership, The Choir has also collaborated in performances with the Millersville University Choir for the 150th Anniversary of Millersveille University (2005), and with the Baldwin-Wallace College Choir for the 75th aniversary of the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival in Severance Hall, Cleveland (2007).

Mr. Funfgeld has expanded the programs of The Bach Choir beyond the annual Bach Festival to include Christmas Concerts, a Spring Concert, a Family Concert, Bach to School – an educational outreach program that has been presented to more than 75,000 students in elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the Lehigh Valley and surrounding region – and Bach Choir choral scholars from Lehigh Valley high schools. In 2005, he initiated Bach at Noon, a tremendously successful series of seven free concerts a year at Central Moravian Church.

Under Mr. Funfgeld’s leadership, The Choir has released five Dorian recordings: Christmas in Leipzig(1988), Wachet Auf!(19890, the Mass in B Minor (1998), the Christmas Oratorio (1999), and the Ascension Oratorio with Cantatas 51 and 34 (2002), as well as the popular four-volume Christmas in Bethlehem series featuring traditional carols sung by The Bach Choir with organist Thomas Goeman, Philadelphia Brass, and soloists Marietta Simpson and William Sharp.

The Choir is regularly heard on NPR and has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, the BBC World Service and Deutsche Radio. Other significant media projects during Mr. Funfgeld’s tenure have included Make a Joyful Noise,the Emmy award-winning documentary on The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, produced by Lehigh Valley PBS and broadcast nationwide in 2004. As part of its 100th Festival Season, The Choir produced a film version of Classical Kids’ award-winning CD Mr. Bach Comes to Call in collaboration with Touchstone Theatre and GreenTreks Network. The DVD is currently being broadcast nationwide on PBS and is distributed internationally by The Children’s Group.

Mr. Funfgeld has collaborated with many of the most important artists active in Baroque music, including the late Arleen Auger. Performance collaborations with artists in other disciplines include the acclaimed Trisha Brown Dance Company and Taylor 2 Dance Company. His guest conducting engagements have included the Boulder Bach Festial in its 10th anniversary performance of the Mass in B Minor, and he has worked with Helmuth Rilling at the International Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany, and with David Agler, now music director of the Vancouver Opera. He supervises recordings of new releases for Warner Brothers Music and has served on the Choral and Opera Advisory Panel of the Music Program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Mr. Funfgeld is a member of the advisory board of The American Bach Society.

Mr. Funfgeld also serves as the director of music at First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem and has led the church choir on two European tours, including concerts in Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg and a 15-day concert tour of Scotland and England.

Mr. Funfgeld is a 1976 graduate of Westminster Choir College, where he studied under Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt. In May 1986, he received the Alumni Merit Award for excellence in musical performance. In 2007, Mr. Funfgeld was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Lehigh University in recognition of his musical accomplishments locally, nationally, and internationally.

Bridget George, Executive Director came to The Bach Choir as Executive Director in September 1997. She has led the administration of The Choir through the implementation of three strategic plans and ten concert seasons that have included the Centennial Celebration (1998-2000), performances at Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, the release of six recordings, the Lehigh Valley PBS production of Make a Joyful Noise—an Emmy-award winning documentary on The Choir, expansion of The Choir’s educational programs with annual Family Concerts and the Bach at Noon free concert series, the 100th Bethlehem Bach Festival in May 2007, and the successful completion of The Choir’s Second Century Fund Campaign. Ms. George was responsible for booking and administering The Choir’s eight-concert United Kingdom tour in 2003, including a performance for the BBC Proms in Royal Albert Hall, London.  Most recently, she was executive producer of the live action film Mr. Bach Comes to Call, based on the award–winning Classical Kids CD, produced by The Bach Choir in collaboration with Touchstone Theatre, GreenTreks Network Inc, and The Children’s Group, and broadcast nationwide on PBS in 2007.

Born in England and educated at Oxford University, with a BA in Philosophy and Psychology, Ms. George sang with Oxford’s Schola Cantorum and the Oxford University Opera. She also has a Diploma of Education from Goldsmiths College, London and was a teacher at Coburg Primary School, London, specializing in music and drama education. Since moving to Bethlehem in 1976, Ms. George has worked full-time in the field of arts administration. She co-founded Touchstone Theatre in 1981 and was the company’s Producing Director from 1990-95. Her accomplishments at Touchstone included producing Theatre of Creation, a two-week international festival celebrating the work of the renowned Ecole Jacques Lecoq, co-producing a play with Chile’s Teatro la Memoria that toured in New York City, Baltimore, and Santiago, and two successful capital campaigns. Ms. George has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Winnie Erdman, Deputy Executive Director, came to The Bach Choir of Bethlehem as Office Manager in 1994. The new Executive Director was in need of an assistant and the opportunity offered was challenging. Previously she worked as Administrative Assistant in the Admissions Office at DeSales University for nine years. In September 2003, she was promoted to Deputy Executive Director, recognizing her valuable service to The Choir in developing the organization’s box office and data management through a period of significant expansion, and developing excellent communications with all of our Choir member, guarantors, and audiences. Winnie and her husband Ed currently live in Bethlehem Township. They have two children and have one grandchild.

Karen Glose, Marketing Associate, joined the staff in September, 2001. Her professional experiences include serving as Volunteer Coordinator for Musikfest; Director of Development for The Weller Center for Health Education; Coordinator of Marketing and Special Events for The Lehigh Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross and Director of Recruitment and Admissions for the former Allentown Hospital School of Nursing.

A graduate of the University of Delaware with a BA in Communications, she is Director of Music at Assumption B.V. M. Church in Northampton PA, a position she has held for the past 17 years. Karen is a lifelong resident of Bethlehem where she currently lives with her husband Bill and their three sons.

Paul S. Larson, D.M.A., Chief Archivist & Curator, Dr. Paul Larson has worked with The Bach Choir as Manager of Historic Documents since 1986. He was recently promoted to Chief Archivist & Curator to recognize the significant expansion of the work of The Bach Choir Archives. He also serves as Chairman of The Choir’s Research and Scholarship Committee. Dr. Larson is a former professor of Music at Moravian College and author of "An American Musical Dynasty — a biography of the Wolle Family of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania." Dr. Larson is a graduate of Mansfield University, where he received a B.S. in Music Education. His M.A., also in music education, is from the Eastman School of the University of Rochester and has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University. Dr. Larson is Professor emeritus, Moravian College, in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, where he taught music education, non-Western music and music history. A resident of Bethlehem, he continues to be active in local history research and to be involved in area historical societies.

Jane Florenz, Choir Manager

Thomas Goeman, Assistant Conductor, has served as accompanist for The Bach Choir as well as organist for the Bach Festival Orchestra for 17 years. He also works with Greg Funfgeld as Associate Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem, PA. He has been a frequent soloist with the American Boychoir and has toured widely throughout the united States, Europe and Russia, including a performances in St. Petersburg, Vienna, Salzburg, Leipzig, Munich, Copenhagen and London. Also in demand as a recording artist, he is organist for Angel, Virgin Classics, Dorian, Warner Brother and Alfred and Harold Flammer Publishing companies. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio and on the BBC. He has also accompanied for such notable conductors as Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Andre Previn and Raphael Kubejik. Thomas Goeman holds degrees in church music and organ performance from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI and Westminster Choir College, Princeton NJ, and has studied accompanying with Martin Katz at The University of Michigan.

Charlotte Mattax, Orchestra Manager, is a member of the Bach Festival Orchestra as harpsichordist and continuo organist and has also served as the orchestra’s personnel manager since 1997. She first gained critical attention as a top prizewinner in 1980 and 1983 at the International Harpsichord Competitions of Bruges and Paris. Sine that time, she has performed in the United States and Europe, including appearances in London, Geneva, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome and Salzburg. As a chamber music, she has appeared with New York’s Grande Bande as well as San Francisco’s American Baroque, and has toured Europe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Her compact disc recording of solo harpsichord works of J.S. Bach, on the Koch International Classics label, has met with critical acclaim. She has also recorded for Dorian Recordings, Centaur Records, Newport Classic and Amon Ra Records. Ms. Mattax is currently on the faculty of the University of Illinois.

Elizabeth Field, Concert Master of the Bach Festival Orchestra, enjoys an active career as both a chamber musician and soloist on both period and modern instruments throughout the United States and Europe. Ms. Field holds a Doctorate from Cornell University in Historical Performance Practice and teaches at George Washington University and Duke University. She performs with Brandywine Baroque, The Violins of Lafayette, ArcoVoce, and Pro Musica Rara, and is first violinist of The Van Swieten Quartet in residence at the Longy School of Music. She serves as concertmaster for the Bach Sinfonia and performs regularly with the Washington Chamber Symphony, the National Chamber Orchestra, and the Washington Bach Consort, for all of which she fills in as guest concert master. She has also performed with The St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, The Handel & Haydn Society of Boston, and The City Opera of New York. Ms. Field has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, ESS.A.Y., Vox Cum Laude, and most recently four sonatas by the 18^th century violin virtuoso Jean-Marie Leclair for Dorian Records.

Melissa Oswald, Development Assistant, joined The Bach Choir of Bethlehem in November, 2006.  A graduate of Muhlenberg College with a BA in English and a minor in Women’s Studies, her previous fundraising experience includes an internship at NARAL/NY and employment at The Rodale Institute in Kutztown, PA.  More recently she worked at Rosemont College in their Office of Development, assisting with the College’s Annual Fund Campaign.  A previous resident of Florida and northern New Jersey, Melissa now lives with her husband Tyler in Allentown, PA.

Kathleen Haley Link joined the staff of The Bach Choir as Development Officer in July 2007 after consulting to non-profit organizations in marketing and fundraising for eight years. Before joining The Choir, she worked with organizations in higher education (DeSales University, Muhlenberg College, Lehigh County Community College), health and human services (Meals on Wheels, Equi-librium), the arts (Allentown Symphony, The Baum School of Art, The Williams Center for the Arts), and other not-for-profit entities.  As Development Officer, Kathy is responsible for corporate and individual fundraising and she brings valuable experience with The Bach Choir having served as Executive Director from 1994-97. She holds an MBA from Lehigh University and a BA Magna Cum Laude from DeSales University. 

Kathy lives in Allentown with her daughter and Associate Guarantor, Madeline.  She is an active member of her church community, singing with two contemporary ensembles and serving as a lector.  She serves on the advisory board of Penn State Lehigh Valley, and is an associate board member of the national Foundation for Retinal Research.