Training the singers of tomorrow.
From its inception, the mission of Ember Choral Arts (originally Schola Cantorum on Hudson) has placed education at its core. At no point has the work been about ‘pretty sounds today,’ but rather building ‘bridges to impact’ through skill development and meaningful experiences.
Ember’s Boards of Trustees embraces a vision that is long-range and broad-scale—a vision that means bringing many along on the journey. That means education and outreach today, just as strongly as it did in the beginning!
Ember Choral Arts was founded on the belief that music plays a vital role in every life. This philosophy informs all activities and is nowhere more evident than in the various education programs. Read on to discover where you might fit in!
Choral Ed Collaboration in Schools.
Overview
Nurturing a life-long love of, and involvement with active music-making in young people who are likely to become avocational musicians as adults is the mission of Ember’s Cantorum Young Singers (CYS) program. Since 1998, hundreds of young people have performed with the dynamic Ember ensemble singers in this way.
Through the CYS program, an active school choral program is selected for involvement in Ember’s self-produced concert season. Repertoire is chosen collaboratively between Ember's Artistic Director and the director of the school program; and Ember’s AD interacts on their campus throughout the year with the students and their director.
Scholar Programs.
Providing training and opportunity for the next generation of professional musicians is the mission of Ember’s long-standing Scholar Programs.
Past Scholars
Ryan LaBoy
Max Jefferson
Crystal A. Charles
Jose Candelaria
Gilberto Gomez
Natasha Badillo
Choral Scholars
Through Ember’s Choral Scholar Program (launched simultaneously with Ember’s first season, 1994-95), selected high school musicians are provided with pre-professional training and experience, in addition to guidance through the complexities of the conservatory audition process. High school singers who intend to pursue a career in music and show outstanding promise are invited to apply for a Choral Scholarship in the sprint of their sophomore year.
A Choral Scholarship enables a student to participate fully as a singing member of the semi-professional Ember, and to receive partial tuition for private vocal instruction.
Conducting Scholars
Ember’s Conducting Scholar Program is designed to provide post-graduate (BA minimum) training and experience for a choral conductor in the first decade of his/her career. This addition to Ember’s Scholar offerings was planned from the outset (1994), and finally launched in 2015. Training and opportunities provided are designed collaboratively between the Scholar and Schola’s Artistic Director to meet each Scholar’s professional goals.