Moderator

• Lehigh Valley Public Media

  Lehigh Valley Public Media is the home of PBS39 and WLVR News

Participants

• 
  Megan Frank - Host and Moderator

  Panelist

  Megan Frank grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Temple University. She is the 2010 recipient of The Legacy Award for excellence in reporting on diverse communities, given by Temple's Klein College of Media and Communication. She comes to PBS39 from Harrisburg, where she reported for stations serving the Pennsylvania State Capitol region. Prior to her work in television, she was a public radio reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, reporting for the station's flagship radio program NewsWorks Tonight and acted as an investigative research aide for NPR's Marcellus Shale reporting project StateImpact Pennsylvania. Her print work has been featured by Philly.com's My Community Trend and Temple University's Fox Focus magazine.

• 
  Greg Funfgeld

  Panelist

  Greg Funfgeld is now in his 38th season as artistic director and conductor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. He has expanded the programs of The Bach Choir beyond the annual Bach Festival to become a year-round season of 40 concerts and educational programs with an audience of more than 20,000. Mr. Funfgeld led The Choir on two major concert tours: Germany (1995) and the United Kingdom (2003). In June, 2021, he will return to Leipzig for the Choir's third performance in Germany as part of the 2021 BachFest. He directed The Choir’s Centennial performances at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall (1999-2000), and performances at Saint Paul’s Chapel and Trinity Church, Wall Street as part of a series of concerts presented in observance of the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. Under Mr. Funfgeld’s leadership, The Choir has released 14 recordings, most recently Bach's Cantata BWV 21 and Handel's Ode for St. Cecelia's Day (2019), and A Child's Christmas in Bethlehem (2013) on the Analekta label, and co-produced two films—the PBS documentary, Make a Joyful Noise, and the internationally distributed Classical Kids’ DVD, Mr. Bach Comes to Call.

• 
  Paula Zerkle

  Panelist

  Zerkle is a Professor of Music and Director of Vocal Music at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She conducts Moravian College Choir, Chorale, Men’s Chorus, Women’s Chorus, and Vocalis, a small a cappella choral ensemble. She teaches conducting and musicianship and for almost 20 years was the faculty advisor to Delta Omicron, an international music honors fraternity. Zerkle is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a B. A. in Music and French. She received two M. M. degrees in choral and orchestral conducting from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and has a doctorate in choral music from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Zerkle is an adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor for choral festivals, competitions, and workshops in Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. She is the secretary of the Dalcroze Society of America board and has been nominated for two awards by the Conductors’ Guild. Zerkle was a member of the board of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Choral Directors Association for two years, where she organized the annual World Music Honor Choir. Before coming to Moravian, she taught and conducted at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, and Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio.

• 
  Steven Sametz

  Panelist

  Steven Sametz is the Ronald J. Ulrich Professor of Music and director of Lehigh University Choral Arts, one of the country’s premiere choral programs. He also serves as Artistic Director for the elite a cappella ensemble, The Princeton Singers and is the founding director of The Lehigh University Choral Composer Forum. Guest conducting appearances include the Taipei Philharmonic Foundation, the Berkshire Music Festival, the New York Chamber Symphony, and the Netherlands Radio Choir. Dr. Sametz’ compositions have been heard throughout the world at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Santa Fe music festivals. Recently, Dr. Sametz conducted the Princeton Singers at the American Choral Directors’ Association conference in Philadelphia and Lehigh University Choral Arts at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. He was the first Fulbright Specialist at Lehigh University, mentoring students in conducting and composition in China. Dr. Sametz holds degrees from Yale University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany.