Allan Birney, founder of both the Camerata Singers and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, has been recognized for his contribution to the performing arts in the Lehigh Valley as the recipient of the City of Allentown’s 1991 Arts Ovation Award and the National Federation of Music Club’s 1996 Keystone Salute. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Allan is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, the Yale School of Music, and the Juilliard School of Music, with additional studies in Kent, England, and Salzburg, Austria. While a faculty member at Yale, he organized the Morse Chamber Music Series and founded the Craftsbury Chamber Players, which are still performing in Craftsbury, Vermont.

In 1972, Dr. Birney founded the Camerata Singers, a community-based choral group of serious singers committed to quality performances of significant classical and contemporary choral works. At the same time, he established the Valley Camerata Orchestra, which incorporated in 1982 as the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra - an all-professional, regional chamber orchestra. Allan Birney is currently the organist at New Goshenhoppen United Church of Christ in East Greenville Pa. In addition to conducting, he is frequently featured as a piano, organ, and harpsichord soloist, and is acclaimed for his participation in the Sinfonia’s summer Valley Vivaldi series.