Betsy Burleigh
Music Director, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh
Betsy Burleigh is in her first year as Music Director of The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh. She is also the Assistant Director of Choruses for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Coordinator of Choral and Vocal Music at Cleveland State University.

Ms Burleigh was chorus master for the Cleveland Opera from 2002-2006 and director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus from 1998-2006. She has also served as director of both the Canton Symphony Chorus and Akron Symphony Chorus. In 2000 she received the Northern Ohio Live achievement award for music direction of Viktor Ullmans opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis. A frequent guest conductor, she has led concerts with the Akron Symphony and the Canton Symphony orchestras. She has also conducted the Heights Chamber Orchestra and numerous choral festivals.

Her musical career began in Boston, where she was Music Director of The Master Singers. She conducted the group in their subscription concert series and prepared the chorus for concerts with the Boston Pops and Monadnock Music. She also served as guest conductor for the Dartmouth Handel Society and the Dedham Choral Society, and as Music Director for the Longy Chamber Singers and the Cambridge Madrigal Singers.

Academic posts have included serving as Director of Choral Activities at Tufts University and Clark University. She has also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Longy School of Music, Southeastern Massachusetts University, and in both public and private high schools. She holds a doctorate in choral conducting from Indiana University and a masters degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.