Our Music Director

Music Director Allan Birney

Allan Birney is founder and Music Director of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra and the Camerata Singers. Highly respected for his participation in many musical circles, he was the recipient of the 1991 City of Allentown's Arts Ovation Award, honoring his many outstanding contributions to the performing arts in the Lehigh Valley. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Allan is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, the Yale School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music, with additional studies in Kent, England and Salzburg, Austria. While a faculty member at Yale, he organized the Morse Chamber Music Series and founded the Craftsbury Chamber Players in Craftsbury, Vermont.

In 1968, Allan received an appointment as Professor of Music at Cedar Crest College, where he remains on the faculty. At the recommendation of the PA Council on the Arts, Allan was invited to conduct the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh's three state tour of Bizet's Carmen in 1993. Allan Birney is frequently featured as a piano, organ and harpsichord soloist in addition to conduction. He resides in Coopersburg with his wife, Lynn.