Biography
Peggy Dettwiler is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, where she conducts the Concert Choir, Festival Chorus, and Chamber Singers, and teaches choral conducting and methods.
She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She also has a Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Master of Music Degree in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
The Mansfield University Concert Choir has been invited for twenty-three consecutive years to perform at state, regional, national, or international choral conventions and has won eleven gold medals and numerous prizes in international competitions.
In 2010, Dr. Dettwiler received the Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, and she placed second in 2011 and 2013 for the American Prize for Choral Conductors at the College/University level.
Dettwiler has served as a guest conductor and lecturer throughout the country and has given presentations at numerous NAfME and ACDA Conventions. She has produced two DVDs, one entitled, “Developing a Vocal Color Palette for Various Choral Styles” and the second, “Sing in Style.”
Dettwiler made her conducting debut in Carnegie Hall in January 2014 and presented an interest session at the World Choral Symposium in Seoul, Korea in August 2014.
In 2015, she received the Presidential Coin for Excellence from General Francis Hendricks, President of Mansfield University, and was designated “2015 Honored Artist of the American Prize.” In 2016, she served on the jury for the World Choir Games in Sochi, Russia, and was one of ten conductors from seven countries, who participated in the course, CONDUCTING 21C: Musical Leadership for a New Century, held in Stockholm, Sweden.
In January of 2017, Dettwiler served as Artistic Director for the concert, “Of War, Peace, and the Power of Music,” held in Carnegie Hall and sponsored by Performing Arts Educators. In 2018, she prepared 80 singers from Mansfield University to sing the choruses for Carnegie Hall’s Gala Benefit Celebration of Bernstein’s Candide, garnering a “superb” mention in the New York Times.
She is immediate past President of the Eastern Division of the American Choral Directors Association.
In Fall 2022, Dettwiler and her husband musicologist Dr. Jürgen Thym, jointly were honored as part of the Eastman Centennial Celebration in Rochester, NY for their contributions to artistry, scholarship, community engagement, and philanthropy.
- To read more about Peggy Dettwiler, check out Peggy’s Story: From an Illinois Farm to Carnegie Hall, Mansfield University’s Peggy Dettwiler Made Herself into one of America’s Finest Choral Conductors