St. Luke's Hospital Choir Celebrates 20 Years

A choir of harmonious voices blending perfectly swelled the Laros Auditorium in the Doctors’ Pavilion at and Health Network. A 70-member choir comprised of St. Luke’s employees, volunteers and choir volunteers were preparing for their spring concert. 

St. Luke’s Singers will take the stage Sunday for its annual Spring “Pops” Concert – marking its 20th year. The performance will be held at the , 2344 Center St., Bethlehem.

The theme of the concert is “Awake!  Awake! Let Music Live!” The choir will perform selections of sacred music, folk, contemporary and patriotic tunes to set the mood for Memorial Day, said Floyd Schlegel, the choir director. The concert will also include a piano duet, brass quartet, organist, and a trumpet solo.

“It’s a lovely mix, something for everyone,” said Dr. Joseph Merola, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at St. Luke’s and choir member for 20 years.

Each year the choir performs two concerts, one for Christmas and one in the spring. Money raised from the performances goes toward special hospital projects, Schlegel said. One year, the money helped to renovate the chapel, another year for needs in the dialysis center. This year, the money will be used to purchase new monitors for the operating room, he said. As of December 2010, the choir has raised more than $205,000.

“It is most unusual to have a choir associated with a hospital, especially over a period of twenty years and benefitting various areas of the hospital through its concerts,” Schlegel said.

Merola said signing in the choir provides an up lift at the end of his busy work day. He joined the choir in 1991.

“It was a way to volunteer, when I didn’t have the time to volunteer,” he said.

Schlegel became the choir director in 1993, and Merola said, “it has gotten better and better – the way he puts the instruments together and chooses the music. It really has become semi-professional.”

Merola was familiar with Schlegel’s style as a director when he joined the choir. Schlegel was his choir director at Nazareth Area High School. Merola graduated from the school in 1960. After Schlegel retired, he went on to become the minister of music at St. John’s United Church in Nazareth. Many members of his church choir volunteer in the St. Luke’s Singers – some of whom Merola sang with in high school.

“This group is highly infused with Nazarenes,” Merola said. “There are a lot of wonderful souls here.”

The group practices every Wednesday evening from September through June. Another one of the members, who has been with the choir for 20 years, is Dr. Robert Hunsicker, an ears, nose and throat doctor with St. Luke’s.

In addition to signing, Hunsicker will be performing a trumpet solo of the song titled, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” The African-American spiritual will segue into the sacred music section of the concert, he said. Hunsicker is also a member of the Southside Brass Quintet and the Lehigh Valley Pops Orchestra.

Playing music and signing in the choir is “just good therapy,” Hunsicker said. “I look forward to it.” He credits the director with the quality of the music performed by the choir.

“Floyd is able to squeeze out every bit of talent, whether a little or a lot,” Hunsicker said.

An instrumental prelude will begin at 2:45 p.m. with the concert commencing at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $12 and may be purchased by calling 610-868-8617 or in person at the St. Luke’s Hospital – Bethlehem Campus gift shops.