The Singers

The Reading Liederkranz, 143 Spook Lane, Reading, Pennsylvania 19606

610.373.3982

Post Office Box 4338, Reading, Pennsylvania 19606-0038

The Reading Liederkranz Singers began as a birthday gathering of eight German immigrants in 1885. After singing their traditional German folk songs, they realized that they were a very good octet! A schoolteacher and choir director, Adalbert Sell, suggested organizing a singing society. Thus was born the Reading Liederkranz, which within a year grew to a chorus of 40 singers under the direction, until 1890, of Johann Dersch.

The Liederkranz singers are delighted to be able to continue its 125-year record of pleasurable singing and Gemütlichkeit, under the direction of often long-tenured Dirigenten (Prof. Dr. Georg D. Haage [1904 to 1935], Herbert Fiss [1935 to 1962], Arthur A. Lemke [1962 to 1978], and Dr. Roy B. Hinkle [1978 to 1997]). The chorus has also been directed by J.W. Johst [1891], Jakob Schmidt [1891 to 1904], Martin E. Devlin [1997 to 2003], and Elizabeth Hinkle [2003 to 2007]. Since 2007, Rev. Mark V. Herr has been our cheerful and patient director.

We are the only charter member chorus still in the United Singers’ Federation of Pennsylvania, for which we host the Saengerfest every five years. The chorus also is affiliated with the United Singers of Philadelphia and the Nordoestlicher Saengerbund, which encompasses choruses from New York to Washington, D.C.

The Singers keep busy with numerous concerts during the year, including broadcasts on WEEU (for 61 years) of the Maifestgottesdienst and Weihnachtsgottesdienst; singing for community, church, and personal special events; our Liederkranz Oktoberfest, German-American Day, Stiftungsfest, and Christkindlmarkt; and holding exchange concerts with other choruses.