Ed Milisits
December 31, 1953 - January 8, 2022
Our founding Artistic Director, Edward W. Milisits, II, was a teacher, musician, husband, father, brother, friend and mentor. To Ed, music wasn’t just a hobby or career; music was who he was.
Ed graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Music Education in 1975 and in 1982, he graduated summa cum laude with a M.M. in Music Education degree, both from West Chester University. He later did postgraduate work at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN and LaSalle University in Philadelphia, PA.
Ed retired on June 23, 2009 from the Easton Area School District after 33 years of service. While with the Easton Area School District, Ed served as the Director of Choral Activities. He developed and taught many classes at the high school, including Voice Lab, Music History, Guitar Lab, Honors Music Theory I and II, and AP Music Theory. He also served as the K-12 Coordinator of Music for the district. He founded the EAHS Camerata, Chamber Singers, and Jazz Chorale and conducted the Concert Choir and Treble Choir. Ed enjoyed serving as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator and consultant around the eastern United States.
From the fall of 2009 through the fall of 2015, Ed was the Artistic Director of the Lehigh Sängerbund Chorus, which later became known as the Lehigh Valley Meistersingers.
In 2016, a group of Easton alumni and Ed collaborated to create the Lehigh Valley Chorale. The Chorale started with 50 members, but once word got out that Ed was conducting a non-auditioned community choir, the membership quickly grew to nearly 130 members by 2020. Sadly, due to Covid, directing the Winter 2019 Concert was Ed’s last formal contribution to the music community.
It is without a doubt that Ed’s legacy will live on through the Chorale, our hearts, and the music we sing, as well as through the impact he made on everyone he came in contact with. Those of us that were fortunate enough to know Ed knew that he shared his passion and love of music with everyone. He was able to bring the best out of people and give them a sense of belonging. He loved and truly cared for everyone.
On January 8, 2022, we lost a true musician, and the world will be a much quieter place if we don’t let his music live on in all of us!
Our last full group photo with Ed, taken in Fall 2019.
Performing that National Anthem at an Iron Pigs game, July 2021. This was a particularly meaningful performanance as it was the last time we were under Ed’s direction.