As the Artistic Director for Programming at Encore Creativity and the Artistic Director of the Alexandria Choral Society, Kathryn Harsha brings infectious enthusiasm and deep passion to everything she does. Equally at home on the podium and in the board room, her bold vision and focus on community building brings out the best in her musicians. 

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Kathryn's career has taken her across the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, with recent performances at the Kennedy Center, Severance Hall, and St. Giles' Cathedral. During her years in Cleveland, she served as Music Director and Conductor of the Lakeland Civic Orchestra and Music Director of Opera per Tutti (now the Cleveland Opera Theater). For more than 20 years, she lead Sing Out! benefit concerts for Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, which raised millions of dollars and transformed the center's reach and impact. In 2018, the Visionary Voice award was named in her honor—a testament to her dedication to using music as a force for good.
 

Kathryn's commitment to music education also runs deep. She has worked with the Peabody Children's Chorus as Assistant Conductor, Accompanist, and Chorus Manager, and spent five transformative years as Executive Director of the Opus Community Music School, where she expanded musical opportunities for students of all ages.
 

She holds a Master of Music in Conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Bluffton University. Her time studying at the Sorbonne in Paris included serving as Assistant Conductor of the Chorale des Étudiants Etrangères and studying at the Messiaen Conservatoire in Saint-Maurice, France.
 

Today, Kathryn continues to create transformative musical experiences that bring people together through the power of shared song—because she believes music has the unique ability to unite communities and change lives.