AUDITIONS - Volunteers

Are you a treble singer with choral experience? Are you looking for choral opportunities with a smaller time commitment? Consider joining NOVA Women’s Choral Project for a choral workshop exploring works by contemporary women composers.

NOVA Women’s Choral Project is a new, project-based women’s choral ensemble in the Greater Boston area that uses innovative choral experiences to raise awareness of issues that impact both women and our communities. For more information on NOVA or to learn more about our workshop, please visit our website at www.novawcp.org.

The Church of Our Lady of the Lake in Verona, NJ invites all who are interested in finding a new choir home. We embrace all voice parts and look forward to having you. Rehearsals are Thursdays from 7:30pm to 9pm, and the choir sings at the weekly 10:30am Mass. During COVID, we sing socially-distant, but masks are only required for unvaccinated churchgoers. Reach our to music director Vincent Carr at . We look forward to seeing you there!

Join the Downers Grove Choral Society for our season kickoff rehearsals on the Mondays of September 13 and 20 from 7:30-9:45pm at First United Methodist Church (1032 Maple Ave., Downers Grove, IL). All voices are welcome as we start to prepare our concert “Light Out of Darkness.” This concert will be performed on Sunday, November 14, 2021, 4:00pm at First United Methodist church and will feature J.S. Bach’s Aus der Tiefen and Faure’s Requiem. For more information about joining the Downers Grove Choral Society see www.dgcs.org. We look forward to seeing you at one of our open rehearsals!

Essence of Harmony Choral Society is getting ready for our fall season. Our first in-person season will feature Händel’s Messiah in December. Rehearsals are Monday evenings from 7p-9p at Bethel AME Church in Moorestown, NJ. All voice parts are welcome, especially needed are basses.

If you’d like to sing with us, visit the website, http://www.essenceofharmonycs.org, and go to the New Member Information page. You may also come to the first rehearsal and sign up afterwards. First rehearsal is on Monday, September 13th at 7p. For questions or more information please email .

Ember to Host Auditions in NYC and New Jersey for its Critically Acclaimed Choral Ensemble

New York, NY- Ember, (Dr. Deborah Simpkin King, Founding Artistic Director) the critically acclaimed choral ensemble of Ember Choral Arts (formerly Schola Cantorum on Hudson) will hold auditions by appointment on August 31 from 7PM-9PM at Our Lady of Sorrows Church (217 Prospect St, South Orange, NJ 07079) and September 1 from 6PM-8PM at the Opera America Building (330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10001). To make an audition appointment, please visit www.EmberArts.org/auditions or email . For more information you may call 888.407.6002, ext. 3.

Ember’s core belief is that music has a unique power to affect the human heart and soul. Ember is committed to excellence in innovative programming and performance; leadership through promotion and performance of new choral music and vibrant, creative engagement with young artists. Ember seeks to inspire fresh thinking about topics of social significance through innovative programming. Ember boasts an internationally recognized new music advocacy initiative and an impressive history of premiere performances.

Conducted by its founder, Dr. Deborah Simpkin King, the choir performs its full concert season in both New Jersey and Manhattan with virtual performances available internationally. Its members have been drawn together by a shared love of great choral music and by dedication to the highest standard of performance. The group is admired by both its audiences and the critics. The Classical New Jersey Society Journal raved: “The most warmly rounded . . . blend I have ever heard in a live choral concert.

Ember singers include a high percentage of active professional musicians, young emerging professionals, and experienced avocational musicians. Solo technique is supported Ember’s approach to tone. Singers come from an exceptionally wide geographical radius from both sides of the Hudson River. All of our rehearsal and performance venues are highly accessible via mass transit.

What is expected in the audition?
Requisites for auditioning include previous choral experience, music-reading ability, and a clear voice with good intonation. Auditions consist of a prepared solo, sight singing, and an interview with the Artistic Director.

Is there a financial commitment?
There are no membership fees or dues. However, singers are expected to purchase their own music.

How do I audition for solo work?
All solos are assigned to ensemble members. Indicate your desire for solo work in your preliminary audition conversation. You may be asked to prepare specific music for solo auditions.

Where do I sign up for an audition?
To make an audition appointment, please visit www.EmberArts.org/auditions or email . For more information you may call 888.407.6002, ext. 3.
Ember Choral Arts (formerly Schola Cantorum on Hudson), a not-for-profit arts organization under the direction of Dr. Deborah Simpkin King (Founding Artistic Director) and Karen Gonon (Executive Director) is made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Investor’s Foundation.

ABOUT EMBER (Ember Choral Arts, formerly known as Schola Cantorum on Hudson)
Founded in 1995 as an independent 501c3, the Ember Choral Arts has grown in depth and influence. It performs (as Ember) its full season in both Manhattan and South Orange, NJ, and enjoys international recognition particularly for its work in advocacy of new choral music. The organization is home to PROJECT : ENCORE, which serves as a bridge connecting composers with conductors who seek new music of exceptional quality. Fundamental to Ember’s core values is the belief that music has a unique power to affect the human heart and soul, inviting each of us to become fully aware, mindful individuals.

It is part of Ember’s mission to extend the role of Art beyond that of its own intrinsic value, leveraging it to bring visibility and expansive thinking to issues of human significance. The areas of social significance selected for full-season thematic exploration are supported by advisory task force activity and podcast promotion. Core to the mission of Ember Choral Arts is to bring innovative programming designed to touch lives, inspire leadership through promotion of new music and enhance meaningful engagement with young singers. For more information visit www.EmberArts.org.

ABOUT DR. DEBORAH SIMPKIN KING (FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR)

Deborah Simpkin King, Ph.D., is a visionary 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 ensemble the semi-professional Ember of Ember Choral Arts (formerly Schola Cantorum on Hudson), 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 growth of the Ember Education, 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.

Join Nashirah, the Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia, for their 2021-2022 season!

Musical skills, including sight-reading ability, tonal memory, rhythmic accuracy, and vocal range will be assessed via Zoom meeting.

Nashirah rehearses at the Curtis Institute of Music; however, due to construction, this season’s rehearsal space is Presser Hall at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. Nashirah meets from 6:15 to 8:15pm on Sunday evenings, and will have performances as follows:

February 11, 2022 – ACDA East, Boston
March 6, 2022 – Collaboration with Philadelphia Voices of Pride, Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral
April 24 – Andrea Clearfield’s Salon, Center City Philadelphia
May 22 – End of Year Concert, honoring the retirement of
Cantor Eliot Vogel, Har Zion

Audition dates will be scheduled for August 25 and 29. Please contact to schedule your audition.
COVID-19 vaccination is required.