As a choral conductor, Deborah Simpkin King ('82 M.Ed., '91 Ph.D.) faces many tasks. One of her most time-consuming is selecting and building programs around music she believes will speak to her singers and to audiences. So, a decade ago, she founded PROJECT: ENCORE, an international, online catalog of contemporary choral music.

King, who works in New York City and northern New Jersey, serves as artistic director for the Ember Ensemble of Schola Cantorum on Hudson and for the Crescent Concert Series, for which she also conducts the Crescent Choral Society and Crescent Singers.

"Concert construction is so rewarding when hearts are moved," she says.