What We Do

OUR BACKGROUND

Since its founding in 1995, Ember Choral Arts (formerly Schola Cantorum on Hudson) has grown in depth and influence. The semi-professional choral ensemble performs its full season in both Manhattan and Montclair, New Jersey, and enjoys international recognition, particularly for its work in advocacy of new choral music. 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. Ember accomplishes this through innovative programming designed to touch lives and of almost exclusively living composers.

Ember Choral Arts is led by a Board of Directors and a part-time staff. Its Founder & Artistic Director, Deborah Simpkin King, Ph.D., plays an active role in the vibrant tri-state choral scene and serves the national and international music community through her guest conducting and body of published work. She also serves as Director of the Manhattan School of Music Chorale; as Director of Music and Arts at Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park, NJ; and as a conductor within Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. 

PROJECT : ENCORE was founded in 2009, as part of Ember’s new music initiative, placing it at the leading edge of the new music industry by working with composers in finding post-premiere performances.  Ember also commissions and performs many premieres and encore performances.  And this season (2023-24) Ember Choral Arts has expanded its new music leadership to include a Composer Residency and the new Ember Ablaze Composer Lab. 

The organization has experienced a number of significant achievements, including: the invitational world premiere of a major work in Salzburg during the Salzburg Festival, a number of collaborations with the New Jersey Symphony, and its premiere of the major oratorio, VOICES of the Holocaust, by Michael Shapiro, available now on Spotify and Apple Music.

OUR MISSION

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. We accomplish this through:

  • Innovative programming designed to touch lives

  • Leadership through performance and pro-active promotion of new music

  • Meaningful engagement with young artists

“Ember Ensemble makes choral music come alive.”

— New Jersey Monthly

What We’ve Achieved

  • The invitational world premiere of a major work in Salzburg during the Salzburg Festival

  • Advocacy leadership in new music: commissioned premieres; premieres requested of us by composers

  • Collaborations with NJSO: a four-concert tour of Italian opera choruses; Video Games Live

  • Recognized and funded by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts

  • Creation and implementation of PROJECT : ENCORE, now endorsing over 175 composers and almost 400 compositions

  • 20+ concert collaborations with school music programs

  • Monthly column in the international trade publication, ACDA’s Choral Journal

  • Invited to participate in an international tour of Greece in 2022.

  • Many Ember graduates, all of whom are active, successful professionals in music