Deborah Simpkin King, Ph.D., is a choral conductor, new music advocate, and master teacher. She plays an active role in the vibrant Manhattan choral scene and serves the national and international music community through her guest conducting and body of published work.

Her leadership as a conductor is ongoing with the semi-professional Ember of Ember Choral Arts (formerly Schola Cantorum on Hudson, as Director of Music and Arts at the historic Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park, NJ, as a conductor within Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and MidAmerica Productions. Her commitment to nurturing the next generation in the arts can be seen through the arts education initiatives at Ember Choral Arts, her long-standing leadership of the NJ-ACDA High School Choral Festival, and the expansion of New York Choral Consortium’s (which she Chairs) work to include young singers through the Big Sing Jr.

Through PROJECT : ENCORE (which she founded), Dr. King is at the leading edge of the new music industry, working with composers in finding post-premiere performances, and performing many premieres herself.

As a monthly columnist with ACDA’s Choral Journal and host of public radio’s Sounds Choral (syndicated through WWFM) she serves the music community internationally.

Hannah Nacheman is a conductor, vocalist, and educator based in New York City. A lifelong musician and arts advocate, Hannah has performed on many prestigious stages including Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, the David H. Koch Theater of Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall.

Hannah currently serves as Adjunct Professor and Director of Mixed Chorus at St. John's University, Assistant Conductor to The Choral Society at Grace Church in NY, and Teaching Artist for the VOCES8 Foundation. She is one of the co-creators of Girls Who Conduct, a mentorship program for young women and non-binary musicians, whose mission is to foster diversity and inclusion in classical music. Furthermore, she serves as Guest Faculty for the Juilliard School Preparatory Division, and this season she serves as Resident Assistant Conductor for City Lyric Opera and Associate Conductor as part of Lincoln Center Presents new programming.

In addition to vocal performance, her musical training includes harp, piano, and violin, which she teaches in her private music studio in NYC, along with conducting and musicianship. Hannah holds music degrees from Bryn Mawr College and The Manhattan School of Music, with continued studies at The Juilliard School. Hannah's specialized pedagogical work focuses on the intersection of music and psychology, enabling her to provide students and ensembles with a musical toolkit with which to better approach all aspects of their lives.

Theresa Hubbard is an active member of the The Oratorio Society of New York, the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale, and the adult choir at the Church of Saint Saviour in Brooklyn, NY. She serves as CEO at Fractured Atlas, where for over a decade, she has provided support for more than 15,000 artists and arts organizations raising funds for their creative projects.

Theresa serves on the steering committee of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors and is a regular presenter at conferences and workshops around the country. In 2016, she earned a Certificate in Arts and Culture Strategy through a partnership between National Arts Strategies and the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Syracuse University and previously worked in the education departments for Carnegie Hall and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Ryan James Brandau is the Artistic Director of several ensembles: Amor Artis, a 40-voice chamber choir and baroque orchestra that specializes in Renaissance, Baroque, and Contemporary music; Res Facta, a 14-voice professional chamber ensemble; Princeton Pro Musica, a 100-voice symphonic chorus and orchestra; and Monmouth Civic Chorus, a 100-voice symphonic chorus.

Equally at home leading choruses and orchestras, Dr. Brandau has established a reputation for incisive interpretations and dynamic, uplifting performances. His repertoire spans the Renaissance and Baroque, contemporary music, and the full cannon of large-scale choral-orchestral masterworks. In addition to leading his own performances, he has prepared choruses for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the New Jersey Symphony.

As an orchestral and choral arranger, he has created many works for his own and others’ vocal, chamber, and orchestral ensembles. Each December thousands of audience members around the globe have their ears delighted and their hearts warmed by his beautifully-crafted, stirring holiday arrangements, lauded by MET Opera and NY Pops cellist David Heiss as “inventive . . . unfailingly gratifying . . . in a class by themselves.”

He is a host of Sounds Choral, an hour-long radio program on WWFM, the Classical Network, and his essays and program notes have been featured by a variety of ensembles.

John Maclay has served as Music Director of the Choral Society of Grace Church since 1999. During his tenure, he has built the Choral Society into one of New York City's most admired choral arts organizations. Reviewers have consistently noted his “carefully considered” programming and the “discipline and passion” of the chorus.  While in graduate school, John was assistant conductor of the Harvard Glee Club, America’s oldest collegiate chorus. He accompanied and conducted choruses at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges, where he co-founded the colleges’ musical theater troupe. Also a practicing lawyer, John is the General Counsel for Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in the Americas. He currently serves as Membership Chair for the New York Choral Consortium.

Lucy Mathias is the current Board secretary and former Managing Director, Development Chair, and Social Media / Marketing Manager for the Young New Yorkers' Chorus. During her tenure as a YNYC leader, the choir has accomplished significant milestones, including making their Carnegie Hall debut, performing as a featured ensemble for iHeartRadio, singing with the New York Philharmonic, and premiering a range of prestigious new music from leading composers. A lifelong musician, Lucy has been engaged in New York's rich choral community since 2012. Lucy has a history in arts marketing and currently works at a marketing and PR firm specializing in architecture and design. 

Elisa worked in the finance departments of two top theatrical publishing houses before transitioning to the nonprofit sector. Prior to her current Senior Operations role at the Simons Foundation, she was the Senior Finance & HR Associate at New York State Health Foundation for a decade, Finance Manager for the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, an artist endowed foundation, the Finance Manager for PILnet, a nonprofit focused on connecting with local partners to develop the institutions essential to rights-respecting societies and served as the Finance and Operations Manager for the National School Climate Center, a nonprofit that helps schools integrate crucial social and emotional learning with academic instruction. Elisa is a freelance singer, lifelong arts advocate and actively serves on the Boards of two additional incredible arts organizations.

Richard Pace is the Chairman of the Oratorio Society of New York. He joined the Society in 1968. He has also sung with the City College Chorus, and the Collegiate Choral in the 1960s. He is a founding member of the Consortium and worked on the incorporation documents. He also serves as president of Amherst Early Music, and president of S’Cool Sounds. He was a member of the board of New York Public Radio from 1998 to 2019.

Everett McCorvey is in his 9th Season as the Artistic Director of the National Chorale and Orchestra at Lincoln Center in New York City. The National Chorale, in its 55thSeason, is known for concerts featuring the major titans of the choral repertory as well as New York’s popular Messiah Sing-In at Lincoln Center, which just celebrated 55 years. Dr. McCorvey is also the Founder and Music Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, a professional organization which tours throughout the world celebrating the preservation of the American Negro Spiritual. Dr. McCorvey holds the rank of Professor of Voice and the OperaLex Endowed Chair in Opera Studies at the University of Kentucky.  He is also the Director and Executive Producer of the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre. He was recently chosen as the recipient of the Southeastern Athletic Conference Faculty Achievement Award for the University of Kentucky. Dr. McCorvey is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Kentucky Arts Council for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is also a trustee for the Sullivan Foundation of New York, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding, developing, and furthering the careers of promising opera singers within the United States.  He is a native of Montgomery, Alabama, and received his degrees from the University of Alabama.

John Daly Goodwin has conducted concerts in major venues around the world including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, The Grand Theater in Shanghai, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Sala Nezahualcóyotl and OllinYolitzli in Mexico City, the Cathedrals of Notre Dame and Chartres in France, and the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. He has also been selected to prepare performances for such prominent conductors as Marco Armiliato, Leonard Bernstein, Joseph Colaneri, Dennis Russell Davies, Robert De Cormier, Srba Dinic, Asher Fisch, Lukas Foss, Fabio Luisi, Yehudi Menuhin, John Nelson, Daniel Oren, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Eve Queler, Corrado Rovaris, Julius Rudel, Gerard Schwarz, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, and Hugh Wolff. He served as Music Director of the New York Choral Society from 1987 to 2012 and was a founding member of the New York Choral Consortium.

Bryan Zaros is a young American conductor recognized for his “strong musical imagination” and “deep sense of musicality and communication.” He is the Associate Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Music Director of the Pro Arte Chorale, a lecturer in the Distance Learning program at the Manhattan School of Music and an active coach and clinician of ensembles in the USA. He has been featured as a clinician and conductor at both the National Pastoral Musicians (NPM) and American Choral Director Association (ACDA) Conferences. He is a recipient of several national grants and conducting awards including an American Prize award in Conducting.

A native New Yorker, Bryan began his professional musical training as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus and as a boy chorister and Assistant Choirmaster at The Church of the Transfiguration, NYC. He received a Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College, a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Michigan and is currently ABD for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting at the Manhattan School of Music.

Mark currently serves as the Executive Director of Musica Sacra, New York longest continuously running professional chorus. During Mark’s tenure, Musica Sacra has presented its 82ndperformance of Handel’s Messiah, commissioned and presented world premieres by Michael Gilbertson and Wang Jie, and enjoyed collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and many more.

As a music educator, Mark has taught voice and music theory at Washington Heights Choir School, a free after-school music program based out of Holyrood Church/Iglesia Santa Cruz. Mark was also the founder, performer, librettist, and CEO of Opera-Tunity, a children’s opera company that created original children’s operas based on a diverse array of myths and folktales.  The operas were performed in schools throughout Connecticut and fully integrated into the schools’ curriculum.

Mark also enjoys a career as a freelance musician in New York, singing with many choral ensembles, church choirs, and synagogues around New York City.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Music from The Manhattan School of Music.

Mary is a DMA student in conducting at the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln, and was recommended for this internship by Dr. Marques Garrett. Find out more about the project Mary is working on HERE.