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 not only her own choral ensembles, the semi-professional Ember of Schola Cantorum on Hudson and the choir of the Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township (PCCT), but also within Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and other guest conducting appearances. Her commitment to nurturing the next generation in the arts can be seen through the Ember Education programs, along with her long standing leadership of the NJ-ACDA High School Choral Festival.

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, she serves the music community worldwide. 

Supplementing her work in the not-for-profit and professional conducting arena, Dr. King frequently works as a professor and as a director of music within church programs.

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 and the adult choir at the Church of Saint Saviour in Brooklyn, NY. She serves as COO and Interim CEO at Fractured Atlas, where for over a decade, she has provided support for more than 10,000 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 three ensembles: Amor Artis, a 40-voice chamber choir and baroque orchestra that specializes in Renaissance, Baroque, and Contemporary music; 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 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 recently celebrated his 20-year anniversary as Music Director of the Choral Society of Grace Church. 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 Nikoloulias started her career in the finance departments of two top theatrical publishing houses before transitioning her passion for the arts, education, and human rights to Nonprofit Administration. In the nonprofit sector she’s served as Finance and Operations Manager for the National School Climate Center, a nonprofit that helps schools integrate crucial social and emotional learning with academic instruction. She was the Finance Manager for PILnet, a global nonprofit focused on connecting with local partners to develop the institutions essential to rights-respecting societies. After 10 years serving New York State Health Foundation, an organization that seeks to improve the health of all New Yorkers, she will call The Rauschenberg Foundation home as their Finance Manager in 2021. Elisa is a freelance singer, serving the music ministry of Union Church of Bay Ridge and serves on the Board of the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus after many years in senior leadership with the organization, facilitating incredible growth and milestones.

Ronnie Oliver, Jr. is a conductor and educator whose commitment to the advancement of the choral art through performance, mentoring, and teaching has spanned over 30 years.  Ronnie is currently the Associate Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music. He is the Artistic Director and Conductor of EnsembleNYC, an emerging choral ensemble whose vision is to be a catalyst for hope in New York City. He has served as choral director and teacher of conducting at Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ), Western Michigan University, Western Kentucky University, Greensboro College (NC), and Texas Tech University.

Ronnie received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Murray State University in Murray, KY, and his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting and the Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University.  He studied conducting with Robert Baar, Gerald Welker, and Kenneth Davis. In addition, Ronnie has participated in masterclasses with Paul Salamunovich, Robert Page, Dennis Keene, Helmuth Rilling, and Robert Shaw. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall, most recently conducting Fauré’s Requiem with the Masterworks Festival Chorus and New York City Chamber Orchestra.

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 6th Season as the Artistic Director of the National Chorale and Orchestra at Lincoln Center in New York City. The National Chorale, in its 52nd Season, 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 52 years. Dr. McCorvey is also the Founder and Music Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, which is celebrating 25 years of touring throughout the world celebrating the American Negro Spiritual. Dr. McCorvey holds the rank of Professor of Voice and the OperaLex Endowed Chair in Opera Studies and is the Director and Executive Producer of University of Kentucky Opera Theatre. He was recently chosen as the 2020 recipient of the Southeastern Athletic Conference Faculty Achievement Award for the University of Kentucky and was the 2018 recipient of the University of Kentucky Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement Award, one of the highest awards presented by the University. The award promotes education and creative thought. Dr. McCorvey is the vice-chair of the Kentucky Arts Council for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 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.

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.