Dr. James Maroney , Associate Professor of Music at East Stroudsburg University, conducts the Concert Choir, University Singers, and A Cappella Ensemble, in addition to teaching voice and ear training.
Since Dr. Maroney's arrival in Fall 2001, the ESU choral program has grown considerably in stature. Under his direction, the two select groups – A Cappella Ensemble (which he founded) and University Singers – have toured in Europe and China as well as Toronto, Washington DC, Boston, and the Ohio Jazz Festival. Most recently, A Cappella Ensemble has been invited to perform at the inaugural Fall Conference of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, to be held in York in October. Dr. Maroney was awarded grants in 2008 toward the commission and world-premiere performance of a work by composer David Lantz for the ESU Concert Choir.
He was Conductor for the Carbon County Festival Chorus in 2008, and conducted the Monroe County Festival Chorus the following year. Dr. Maroney served as President of the Pennsylvania Collegiate Choral Association from 2005 to 2008, and is a choral adjudicator for North American Music Festivals and Fiesta-Val. Before his arrival at ESU, he was Assistant Director of Choral Activities at Western Carolina University, and was founder and Director of the Connecticut-based choir Harmonia , in addition to serving as a music reviewer for Choral Journal .
As a tenor soloist, Dr. Maroney has concertized extensively in recital and oratorio, and has given numerous solo recitals at ESU. He has performed close to 30 operatic roles, most recently with Pennsylvania Lyric Opera as Gaston in La Traviata and Benoit in La Bohème , as well as Kaspar in the St. John's Music Series production of Amahl and the Night Visitors .
As a grant recipient of the President's Research Fund, in Fall 2007 Dr. Maroney gave several lecture-recital performances of Schumann's Dichterliebe and Copland's Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson. He is one of the foremost authorities on music for voice and classical guitar, having authored a book on the subject, Music for Voice and Classical Guitar, 1945-1996 , as well as an article in the Journal of Singing . Dr. Maroney was awarded a grant in 2006 through the Pennsylvania Faculty Professional Development Council to perform concerts of that genre at various colleges in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. While on the faculty at Western Carolina University, he received a grant to give several lecture-recital performances of Schubert's song cycle Die schöne Müllerin in the Southeast U.S.
Dr. Maroney most recently published an article in the jazz magazine The Note that featured a biography and interview with Jamie Fagan, one of the most widely recorded and successful “jingles” vocalists of the 1960s. He is currently engaged in research for an article examining the opera arias of George Frideric Handel written specifically for the tenor John Beard during the composer's years at Covent Garden.
Dr. Maroney holds degrees from Columbia University, Hartt School, Ithaca College, and Western Connecticut State University.