Musician, Educator, Conductor Janelle Decker to Co-Direct Performance Music at Scranton

Janelle Decker has been named conductor and co-director of Performance Music at The University of Scranton, effective June 15, 2024. She joins Cheryl Y. Boga in leading the instrumental, choral and chamber music programs at the University. Shared responsibilities with Boga, who founded Performance Music at Scranton, include conducting, rehearsing, teaching student ensembles, and producing and directing the Guest Artist Series, World Premiere Series, Nelhybel Collection, and educational outreach events such as masterclasses and clinics.

Decker joined the Performance Music staff at the University as assistant director and percussion coordinator in the fall of 2020. Starting a new position in the midst of a pandemic presented its own unique set of challenges, but Performance Music at Scranton stood out as one of the few music organizations in the state to continue to offer extensive in-person music-making experiences for students, and their ability to adapt to adverse instructional conditions with resilience and creativity was featured in national publications. During that year, Decker helped to create and direct steel pan ensembles, percussion ensembles, bucket drumming groups and beginner strings groups. By the 2023-2024 academic year, she was directing the steel pan ensemble and percussion ensemble, coordinating and directing semesterly General Recitals, coaching and overseeing the percussion sections of all ensembles, and assisting with the bands and choirs.

While at Scranton, Decker has coached percussion sections for premieres of band works by composers Philip Kuehn, Javier Nero and David Lantz III. Recently, she prepared the University's concert band for the premiere of a new work by composer/conductor Nate Sparks, entitled "Prelude and March."

In addition to Boga, Decker's conducting teachers and mentors have been Daniel Neuenschwander and Timothy Schwarz. Her primary applied/studio teachers include John Zinsky and Maria Asteriadou, piano; Frank Torquato, Will Rapp and Frank Kumor, percussion; Ed Wargo, flute; and Magdalyn E. Boga, voice and vocal techniques.

As a percussionist in the Reading Pops Orchestra from 2014-2018, Decker performed with a variety of guest artists, including Boston Brass, Brubeck Brothers, Eric Marienthal and New York Voices. She currently is a member of the Scranton Brass Orchestra and Wyoming Seminary Civic Orchestra, and frequently performs with the Electric City Steel Drum Project. In February of 2020, she was named "Northeast Woman" by the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Decker comes to Scranton from the North Pocono School District, where she directed concert band, jazz band, steel drum project and marching band, prior to which she served as the orchestra director for a year.

Decker has also coordinated and hosted several Pennsylvania Music Educators Association/National Association for Music Education (PMEA/NAfME) band and orchestra festivals, ranging from district to state levels. She is a member of Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, National Association for Music Education, and the Percussive Arts Society, and looks forward to becoming the newest member of the Pennsylvania Collegiate Bandmasters Association.

Decker earned her bachelor's degree in music education from Kutztown University and her master's degree in music education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.