Melvin P. Unger
Music Director and conductor

Dr. Melvin P. Unger came to the Cleveland area in 1998 to become Director of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute at Baldwin-Wallace College, a position that he continues to hold. He also conducts the B-W Singers, a relatively new ensemble of some 70 members. His previous academic and choral directing experience was principally in Edmonton, Alberta, where he taught at the North American Baptist College and conducted the Da Camera Singers for 17 years.

Mel Unger is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Music), the University of Oregon (Master of Music in Choral Conducting), and the University of Saskatchewan (Bachelor of Music in Choral Music Education). He was one of the first North American students to study under renowned conductor and Bach specialist Helmuth Rilling, at the State Conservatory of Music in Frankfurt, Germany.

Unger’s choirs have appeared at a number of competitions, festivals, and choral conventions in Canada and the United States. In 1996, his Da Camera Singers were chosen to serve as principal chorus-in-residence at the Classical Seminar-Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria; during this time, the chorus performed the Vierne Mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna under Unger’s direction.

Robert P. Bellisario
Assistant Conductor