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Leela Breithaupt is the executive director of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. A dynamic nonprofit arts administrator, Leela combines her experience as an internationally successful performer with skills in executive leadership. As president and CEO of IndyBaroque Music until 2021, Ms. Breithaupt built strong collaborative relationships with several choirs to present the music of J.S. Bach, including The Bach Institute at Valparaiso University, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Beecher Singers of Second Presbyterian Church, and Spire Ensemble that included performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, and Weinachtsoratorium. She managed two Indianapolis International Baroque Competitions, secured funding and a Naxos sponsor partnership, and managed a global team of industry leaders on three continents as executive producer for six full-length Naxos CD recordings, 4 for Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and 2 with Les Ordinaires Baroque Ensemble, which she founded in 2014.
As a flute soloist and guest artist on modern and traverso (baroque flute), she has performed nationally and internationally at Carnegie Hall, in Europe, including St. László Festival (Hungary), La Côte Flûte Festival (Switzerland), and Nymphenburg Palace (Munich), and in Hong Kong and South Korea. She was the main substitute with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and flutist with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra.
Ms. Breithaupt has published in Flute Talk Magazine in addition to teaching masterclasses in the US and Germany. Deeply immersed in the music of Bach and the German culture, she is multi-lingual and a near-native German speaker who studied both in the US and in Germany and has lived and worked in Germany regularly for the past 25 years. She is well connected with musicians and arts administrators in Europe.
Ms. Breithaupt earned her Bachelor of Music and her Master of Music degrees with a Major in Flute Performance from Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, and her Artist Diploma (Konzertexamen) with Summa cum laude (mit Auszeichnung) from the Berlin University of The Arts (UDK) where she studied under Karlheinz Zoeller. She holds an MBA (2020) from the 2021’s top-rated MBA program in the U.S., The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, where she also taught Leadership and Organizational Behavior Management.
