Dr Carlton Lake was an internationally-known choral conductor and music educator. He was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Born of Welsh parents, he was the son of the late Ellen Jones and Isaac Lake. He was raised in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania where he was surrounded by the choral traditions and festivals of Welsh culture. Dr. Lake had performed with his choirs throughout the world. He founded the Philadelphia Boys Choir in 1961 and conducted that choir at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales in 1968. He then founded the internationally-known Academy Boys Choir, and the Performing Arts School of Philadelphia, from which he retired as director in 1985. Dr. Lake received the Doctor of Music degree in 1961 from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts. He was a founding Director of the Performing Arts School, Philadelphia College of Performing Arts. Dr. Lake became widely known as an outstanding conductor of the Cymanfaoedd Ganu throughout the Welsh communities of the Middle Atlantic States and was chosen to conduct the 57th Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu in Baltimore in 1988. He was the first American born conductor of this event.
