FACULTY

     Alan Harler serves as Laura H. Carnell Professor and Chairman of Choral Music at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance.  He is an active conductor outside of Philadelphia, having performed regularly at the Festival Casals in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Aspen Choral Institute, and has given master classes and conducted performances in Taiwan and China under the sponsorship of the Taiwan Philharmonic Association.  In 1988, Alan Harler was named music director of Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, only the twelfth person to hold that position in the chorus’s 133-year history.

Alan Harler is a strong advocate for new American music.  He was founder and director of the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble of Indiana. During his tenure with Mendelssohn Club, he has commissioned and premiered thirty-three new compositions, including such major works as Robert Moran's Requiem: Chant du Cygne (1990), Charles Fussell's Specimen Days (1992), Robert Stern's Returning the Song (1994), Cynthia Folio’s Touch the Angel’s Hand (1994), Jan Krzywicki’s Lute Music (1995), James Primosch’s Fire Memory/River Memory (1998), Charles Fussell’s High Bridge (2003), and Andrea Clearfield’s The Golem Psalms (2006).  He conducted Mendelssohn Club in a critically acclaimed recording of the Moran Requiem for Argo/London Records in 1994.  With the Temple University Concert Choir, he has presented many Philadelphia premieres, including Moran’s Hagoromo, Alfred Schnittke’s Requiem, and Arvo Pärt’s Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Joannem.  Maestro Harler has prepared choruses for many of the country’s leading conductor’s, including Riccardo Muti, Klaus Tennstedt, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

ALAN HARLER
Director of Choral Activities
phone: 215-204-8304
e-mail: alan.harler@temple.edu

 

    Janet M. Yamron holds a B.S. in Education, M.Ed., Temple University; studies with Elaine Brown, Julius Herford, John Finley Williamson; Helmuth Rilling (Oregon Bach Festival); former Assistant to Director, Dr. Elaine Brown; former conductor Singing City Chamber Singers; Philadelphia Public Schools; guest choral adjudicator, conductor, and clinician; currently conductor, Temple University Chamber Choir.

JANET YAMRON
Professor of Music and Music Education
phone: 215-204-8304
e-mail: janet.yamron@temple.edu

 

 

     Dr. Tram Sparks is Associate Director of Choral Activities at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music & Dance. Dr. Sparks has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in choral literature, conducting, and is conductor of the Concert Choir and University Chorale. Sparks holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from Yale University School of Music. She also holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Piano Performance and Choral Conducting from the Boyer College. While at Yale, Sparks was named an Edward Stanley Seder Scholar, was the recipient of the French Prize in Conducting, and contributed to interdisciplinary studies at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Prior to her appointment at Temple, Sparks was Visiting Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Dordt College, where she conducted the Concert Choir, Chorale and Kantorei on national tours. Dr. Sparks has served on the Board of Directors of ACDA-PA, is a Choral Journal Writing Fellow, and maintains an active schedule as guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician.

TRAM SPARKS
Associate Professor of Choral Music
phone: 215-204-8304
e-mail: tram.sparks@temple.edu

 

 

     Dr. Jeffrey Cornelius has served as a member of Temple University’s music faculty since 1972.  As Professor of Choral Music, he teaches in the Choral Department and conducts the University Singers.  Dr. Cornelius served as Dean of Temple’s Boyer College of Music from 1993 to 2001.  He holds degrees from King College, Westminster Choir College, and Temple University, where he was a student of Robert Page.  Active as a guest conductor, adjudicator, clinician, and lecturer, he is past president of the ACDA of Pennsylvania.  Guest conducting has included all-state, regional, district, and other festival choruses, in addition to preparing Temple’s choirs for performance with The Philadelphia Orchestra.  He has authored numerous articles and papers; has served on accreditation review teams for colleges and universities around the nation; and has served as board- or panel-member of many cultural organizations, including The Musical Fund Society, the New Jersey Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and The Presser Foundation.

JEFFREY CORNELIUS
Professor of Choral Music
phone: 215-204-8304
e-mail: jeffrey.cornelius@temple.edu

 

  

Choral Faculty

Cornelius, Jeffrey
Professor of Choral Music

Harler, Alan
Professor of Choral Music

Sparks, Tram
Associate Professor of Choral Music

Yamron, Janet
Professor of Music and Music Education