Six new inductees will be honored with inclusion in Harmonia Music Association’s Music Hall of Fame at the organization’s annual banquet on Thursday, May 9, at Hebron Banquet Hall, 701 E. Walnut St., Lebanon.
The Harmonia Music Association was founded in 1890 by Lee L. Grumbine and is associated with the Pennsylvania Federation of Music Clubs and the National Federation of Music Clubs.
This year’s inductees are:
- Paul Breidenstine – A graduate of Lebanon High School and West Chester University, Breidenstine was the band director at Sharon Hills High School and retired as band director and fine arts chair at Hamburg Area High School. He is a professional trumpet player and adjunct professor of trumpet at Alvernia and Albright colleges. He is a former member of the Reading Symphony Orchestra, principal trumpet and librarian with the Reading Pops Orchestra, and a member of the Berks Grand Opera, Berks Sinfonietta, Berkshire Brass Quintet, Ringold Band and the Perseverance Band. He has performed in concert with the Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, Four Freshman, Chuck Mangione, Sherri Lewis &and Andrew Neu. Breidenstine lives in Wyomissing.
- R. Porter Campbell – A native of Shamokin, he earned degrees in organ and piano and a BS from the Lebanon Valley College Conservatory of Music in 1915-16. In 1917 he was appointed piano instructor at LVC, and in 1918 he served with the U.S. Army in France. After his discharge, he returned to LVC as a teacher of piano, organ, and harmony, and was director of the Men’s Glee Club. He was also organist and choir master at the Seventh St. Lutheran Church in Lebanon. In 1923, he was appointed head of the organ department at LVC, and that summer he took his first Master Course in Organ Playing with Pietro A. Yon, a world-renowned concert organist and teacher in New York. Campbell taught 64 lessons a week in the 1958-59 academic year. In 1924 he became the organist and choir director at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Lebanon, a position he held until 1952. He retired in 1959 from LVC as an associate professor of organ, a position he held for 41 years.
- Eric Dundore – A graduate of Lebanon High School and Lebanon Valley College, Dundore studied at Westminster Choir College, Temple University, Hart, Penn State University and Peabody. He is a choral conductor, tenor vocalist, and retired music educator. He was the high school choral conductor for the West Shore and Mechanicsburg school districts, a former adjunct professor at LVC, and a current adjunct professor at Messiah University. He is the former artistic director for the Lebanon Choral Society and former conductor and artistic director for the Chamber Singers of Harrisburg. He is the musical director, stage director and performer in various productions for the Theater of Harrisburg and is the current minister of music at St. Paul’s UC in Mechanicsburg. He is a PMEA “Citation of Excellence” award winner, a past president of PMEA District 7 and the Shippensburg University Outstanding Teacher award winner. He resides in Mechanicsburg.
- Dr. Mark Mecham – Mecham earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Utah and a doctor of musical arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has taught at Southern Utah University, the University of Texas at Tyler and the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. He is the retired music department chair at Lebanon Valley College, was named the D. Clark & Edna Carmean Distinguished Professor of Music, and received the Thomas Rhys Vickroy Distinguished Teaching Award in 1998. Mecham was the director of choral activities, conducting the Concert and Chamber choirs. He is the former artistic director and musical director of the Lebanon Choral Society. He appeared as guest conductor of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2012 at the LVC commencement he was honored as the Educator of the Year. Mecham was designated a professor emeritus in 2015. He is a life member of the American Choral Directors Association and was Utah state president of ACDA. He has conducted, adjudicated and given choral clinics in 21 states. He lives in Annville.
- Lisa Meyer – A graduate of Lebanon High School and Lebanon Valley College, Meyer is a retired Lower Dauphin School District music teacher, pianist and percussionist. Since 2010, she has been the organist and accompanies the choir and all soloists on piano at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Lebanon. As a teenager, she started playing the organ for worship services at Salem Lutheran church. She has served as the organist/choir director at Immanuel United Methodist Church in Cleona, and for 20 years was the organist at First UMC in Palmyra. She is a percussionist with the Perseverance Band. Meyer lives in Lebanon.
- Dr. Shelly Moorman-Stahlman – Moorman-Stahlman earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and a doctor of musical arts from the University of Iowa. She is a professor of music at LVC, teaching piano, organ, class piano and church music courses. She is a frequent recitalist as both an organist and pianist. She was a semi-finalist at the St. Albans International Organ Competition in England, finalist in the Arthur Poister Competition and won second prize in the MTNA National Wurlitzer Competition. She has performed in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia, receiving outstanding reviews. She has performed organ recitals at the California Lutheran University, Central Synagogue International Series, the Kimmel Center, University of Arizona, RLDS Temple in Kansas City and Christ the King Cathedral in Atlanta. She has performed in concert with the Hershey, Central Pennsylvania, and Pine Street Chamber orchestras, and has given numerous solo piano recitals throughout the region and in the Midwest. Moorman-Stahlman has recently become an advocate for the organ in Brazil. She lives in Annville.
The Lebanon County Musicians’ Hall of Fame was the idea of former association president Lee Moyer. The first group of nominees was inducted in 2013.
To date, 79 people have been inducted, all of whom were either natives of Lebanon County or non-native musicians who affected the music of Lebanon County for at least 15 years.
Former inductees into the Hall of Fame are:
2013 – Harlan Daubert, Fred Erdman, Kathryn Heckard, Rodney Miller, R. Leslie Saunders, Karl Wolf Jr., James Erdman, William Fairlamb, Anita Patton O’Connor, Thomas Strohman.
2014 – James Checket, Steven Creter, Heather Walter Buffington, Jeffrey Charles, Catherine Deraco, E. Jonathan “Jonny” Leffler, Lee Moyer, Ramon Musheno, Gloria Deraco Horn Tice, J. Bashore Yorty.
2015 – Samuel Bomgardner, Adelaide Burgner, Dr. Carl Ellenberger, Timothy Erdman, Wayne Fox, Nancy Bowman Hatz, Al & Jean Shade.
2016 – John Copenhaver, Suzanne Daubert Fox, Shirley Karinch, Dr. Robert C. Lau, Andrew Roberts.
2017 – Russell C. Hatz, James Garrett, Mary Beazley, David Lazorcik, Bonita Luciotti, Patricia L. Walter.
2018 – Ruth Ann Gotwols, Fredric Erdman, Dr. Marjorie Chan, Carol Hollich, Daniel Hoover, Clarence “Skip” Stine.
2019 – Joseph Carmany, Jeanette Beck, Lynlee Copenhaver, Katherine Hoopes, Stanley Mark, Dawn & Randall Marks, Jay Umble.
2020-21 – Frank DiNunzio, Raymond Brinker III, Michael Kitchen, Steve Meashey, Sally Miller-Checket, Chad Smith.
2022 – H. Herbert Strohman, Susan Dieffenbach, Erin Hannigan, Bonnie Koons, John Lemke, David Santana.
2023 – Anthony Gerace Sr., Mark Dimick, Carole Haines, Robert Meashey, Amy Jo Rhine, Sherie Strohman, Eric Schweingruber, JD Walter.
Questions about this story? Suggestions for a future LebTown article? Reach our newsroom using this contact form and we’ll do our best to get back to you.
Free news isn’t cheap. If you value the journalism LebTown provides to the community, then help us make it sustainable by becoming a champion of local news. You can unlock additional coverage for the community by supporting our work with a one-time contribution, or joining as a monthly or annual member. You can cancel anytime.
