Senior spotlight on Liberty High arts standout with Broadway dreams

Cameron Dunham is looking forward to the day when one of his voice instructors tells him to come watch their Broadway play. Considering he’s headed to the Manhattan School of Music, that day could arrive very soon.

Dunham’s Liberty High School arts career has touched nearly every program, as his resume spans from marching band, select band and orchestra to a cappella choir and barbershop quartet to theater.

He chose the Manhattan School of Music because it’s a small conservatory model whose faculty consists primarily of presently performing artists. The promise that he’ll be able to go downtown and see his own teachers on Broadway was too good to pass up.

Dunham, who is now on the vocal performance major track, said he’s had too many influential teachers in his life so far to name them all, but gave a shoutout to the music departments at Northeast Middle School and Liberty High.

LHS Choir Director Julie Wydrzynski said Dunham is a remarkable student, musician and person.

“It has been a true privilege to witness the development of his musical gift first hand. Although he has consistently ranked at the top of his section for years, he maintains a rare humility and an infectious energy that makes him a joy to work with,” Wydrzynski said in an email.

“Cam has a unique ability to lead while lifting others up. I have no doubt that the hard work he puts in now is just the beginning of a very successful journey.”

Cameron Dunham, a Liberty High School student practices Friday, May...

Cameron Dunham, a Liberty High School student practices Friday, May 8, 2026, for a choir concert. Dunham has had an accomplished music career, including band, orchestra, choir and theater, and is headed to the Manhattan School of Music. (Monica Cabrera/The Morning Call)

Cameron Dunham, a Liberty High School student claps his hands while he rehearses Friday, May 8, 2026, for a choir concert. Dunham has had an accomplished music career, including band, orchestra, choir and theater, and is headed to the Manhattan School of Music. (Monica Cabrera/The Morning Call)

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Dunham said he hopes that journey will one day include becoming a teacher himself. He’s not sure yet what that would mean — as far as ages go, he envisions himself likely wanting to work with secondary age students or older.

Arts instructors who work with younger ages are “the rocks that we need,” Dunham said. While he credits his own early teachers for giving him his start, he sees his future more as working with older students or adults, potentially as a private vocal instructor.

Benjamin Sanchez, the instructor who helped teach Dunham percussion and piano, and Gail Grossman, Dunham’s voice coach, have been valued mentors, he said.

Dunham has leveraged his percussion skills into roles in both band and orchestra. His many instruments include snare and bass drums, cymbals and marimba, but he said he’s not yet confident on a full drum set.

His experience with string instruments has been a little more mixed. Dunham said playing bass “didn’t really work out,” but he got his start at home learning the acoustic guitar, an instrument his mother and great uncle played.

He’s been singing in productions since elementary school. The companies he’s been a part of include both school-sponsored choirs and community institutions such as the Bel Canto Youth Chorus of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and the Mosaic Youth Chorus.

“That’s where I learned my love for music and met wonderful people,” Dunham said, adding an extra shoutout to Joy Hirokawa, the artistic and executive director of the Mosaic Youth Chorus who previously served as artistic director and founder of the Bel Canto Youth Chorus.

“I just think community choirs, even audition choirs, they just really helped me so much,” Dunham said. “They helped me grow my love for music and my love for singing with other people is the big thing.”

Final curtain calls

The May 8 choir concert was Dunham’s last performance as a Liberty High student. Dunham said the end of his time as an LHS arts standout has been bittersweet, especially his final play.

Dunham called his final LHS theater show, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” “one of the first lasts of this year.”

“I think it just reminded me of how grateful I am to have this theater family at Liberty and how much fun the production was to put on this year,” Dunham said.

The role of the Prince Topher (aka Prince Charming) — for which he’s nominated for a Freddy Award — was fun, Dunham said. After having played several villains in his career, including an early performance as Scar in “The Lion King,” he said playing a prince that is “so kind and a little bit oblivious” was an interesting change of pace.

“It was nice to be a kind person,” Dunham said.

Dunham enrolled in Bethlehem Area schools after having spent his elementary school years at the Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School.

Born and raised in Bethlehem, he grew up going with his parents on day trips to Broadway.

“Moving to the city’s going to be a really big adjustment for me, but I’m excited about all the cool opportunities there,” Dunham said, “and it’s going to be an adjustment but — I don’t know if I’m ready, but I’m going to try.”

The Manhattan School of Music is more a small collection of buildings than a traditional college campus, but it includes student housing, Dunham said.

Dunham’s got a long list of “I’d love to see this show on Broadway one day” plays, including “Hadestown” and “Ragtime.” His Manhattan School of Music classmates will all be musicians, including aspiring singers, instrumentalists, composers and conductors.

“It’s just a really intense, focused environment about music,” Dunham said.

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