A Joyful Song: Essence 2 Ltd.

Essence 2 Ltd. has delighted audiences for 23 years. 

“Our focus is on the music from the African and African American choral traditions that includes sacred and secular music,” says the choir’s conductor and founder, Anthony T. Leach, emeritus professor of music at Penn State. “It includes music from various African countries. As far as African American is concerned, it includes anthems that can occur on Sunday morning, and concert settings of spirituals, traditional gospel, contemporary gospel, and music from musical theater.”

Leach has founded three choral ensembles for African and African American music—Essence of Joy for Penn State students in 1991, Essence 2 Ltd. for community members in 1999, and Essence of Joy Alumni Singers in 2005. 

Why did he found Essence 2 Ltd.? “I got tired of people saying, can I join Essence of Joy? No, you’re not a Penn State student. So I launched the Essence 2 choir. There are members from high school to the grave singing in Essence 2. We practice Sunday evenings, 6 p.m., on a regular basis. No audition is required. We use technology to assist us in that all our rehearsals are recorded and then uploaded to our website so members may access them as the semester progresses.” 

The Essence tradition goes back to an invitation more than thirty years ago. Leach says, “The amazing thing is when I returned to Penn State in 1991, it was to pursue a Ph.D. in music education. Mission accomplished. That first year of being back on campus, if I had not been invited by the Forum on Black Affairs to do music for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. banquet, Essence of Joy would never exist, nor any of its constituencies. That first edition of Essence of Joy had twenty-three singers from choirs in the School of Music. I expected it to go away. Obviously, that did not happen. And when I received my faculty appointment, which began in August 1994, I had two requests. One was that they put a grand piano in my studio on campus and that Essence of Joy bear academic credit. And that’s why they are Music 93 today. 

“So it is Essence of Joy that has truly launched Essence 2 and then Alumni Singers,” he says. “And all of that has enhanced every aspect of my professional and personal development since 1991. Essence of Joy is my calling card to the choral profession around the world.”

After his retirement in 2018, Leach returned to Penn State in 2021 to lead Essence of Joy in retired/active status. He is also coordinating the annual African American Music Festival on February 1–4.  

Jo Lash, president of the Essence 2 Ltd. board, is a retired music teacher who has known and worked with Leach for 30 years, including during her graduate studies at Penn State. “He’s a phenomenal musician and he’s being requested all over the world to come and conduct. But he’s number one a teacher. Tony just has a way of teaching that pretty much he can tell you one or two times and you don’t forget it. And we’re lucky we have him. All of his time he spends with us is voluntary. Tony gives a lot of direction. You don’t have a chance to practice it wrong.

“As a singer, I love when we sing to the audience and they get turned on and they send all their energy back up to us, and we send it back to them,” she says. “It becomes a very cyclic, emotional experience. And the times that we have the opportunity to sing in a Black church, oh my goodness. They’re on their feet and clapping. The music feeds my soul.” 

She says Essence 2 has sixty-two singers this year. “We have a pretty big following. We generally pack whatever venue we use, and we go to wherever churches invite us.”

Essence 2 performs an annual fall concert, an annual Black History Month concert, a Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts concert every other year, and other concerts by invitation. 

Leach says, “The choir functioned for many years only during the fall semester. And as time has moved on, we’ve become a year-round ensemble.” He says they typically attract an audience of 200 to 300 people. 

The concerts are not ticketed events, but free-will offerings are accepted. Essence 2 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and donations are tax-deductible. 

The community choir will present its annual Black History Month concert at Trinity Lutheran Church in State College on February 10 at 7 p.m.

Leach says the theme of the February concert will be “traditions and trends in African American sacred music.” The choir will focus on five hymns, with two or more settings for each hymn. 

As an example, Leach says that one hymn, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” will be performed with five settings of the text, including a traditional gospel piece, an anthem from the African Methodist Episcopal hymnal, and a version with audience participation. They also will perform musical compositions by Gale Jones Murphy and Leach’s mentor, Shirley Berkeley, that include the hymn. 

The guest artist for the February concert will be Stan Spottswood, a composer, music teacher, and pastor in Silver Spring, Maryland. Last year, the choir premiered the “Mass of Our Lady of Good Counsel” by Spottswood in celebration of Essence 2’s twentieth anniversary, which was delayed two years due to the pandemic.

Lash says, “We seem to be in a time in our society when there aren’t a lot of things that give us hope right now and a good feeling. I think this music does that. Tony, with his personality, really asks everyone to step up and be the best they can be. And they do that.” T&G

Karen Dabney is a freelance writer in State College.