News and Events

Essence of Joy, the celebrated Penn State University School of Music choir ensemble which performs sacred and secular music from the African and African American traditions, will perform in the Libraries on January 19, at 2 p.m., as part of the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration celebration. The performance will take place in the main lending services lobby, Pattee Library, and is sponsored by the University Libraries Diversity Committee and Digital Library Technologies, a unit of Information Technology Services.

Essence of Joy is one of ten choral ensembles in the Penn State University School of Music. The choir was formed in 1991 by Dr. Anthony Leach, associate professor of music and music education at Penn State. Under Dr. Leach's direction, the choir has performed in many cities across the United States and overseas. In past years, the choir has performed in Poland, the Czech Republic, and South Africa, and will be touring South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan in May. (right: Essence of Joy's last performance in the Libraries, in 2004.)

The choir has released a number of compact disc recordings, including The Soul of Essence, The Spirit of Essence, Essence Live, Lift Every Voice and Sing, and Our Gift in Song. For more information on Essence of Joy, please e-mail Dr. Leach:  atl105@psu.edu, or go to: http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/essenceofjoy/.