Page 12 - CJJanuary2026

2026 ACDA Eastern Region Conference February 25-28, 2026 Providence, Rhode Island

Headliners/Opening Night Concert
H eadliners/O pening Nigh t C onc er t

the artistic director of Elevate Vocal Arts and president
Headliners and CEO of Equity Sings, a consultancy that supports
performing arts organizations with their inclusion.

Elevation Harley-Emerson holds a bachelor’s in music perfor-
mance (voice) and music theory and composition from
Goucher College, an MM in choral conducting and
vocal performance from the University of Delaware
School of Music, and a PhD in music education with
a cognate in choral conducting from the Boyer College
of Music and Dance at Temple University.

mirabai

Elevation is Elevate Vocal Arts’s all-professional,
intentionally diverse performing ensemble. As Dela-
ware’s only professional vocal ensemble, Elevation per-
formances fuse traditional, classical choral music with
jazz, hip-hop, R&B, storytelling, and spoken word.
Unique to our model and our repertoire, we consid-
er the vocal arts to be more than just singing and are
inclusive of the many ways the human voice is used
in creative and artistic expressions. More than just
performers, Elevation’s vocal artists support Elevate mirabai is a professional women’s choral ensemble
Vocal Arts’s educational and workforce development that performs, commissions, and records new and his-
programming through Bent But Not Broken, our bi- torical musics that express the rich emotional terrain
ennial conference elevating vocal music of the African of a woman’s life. mirabai artists are professionals in
Diaspora; through our school-based residencies, which various music-related careers, many of whom sang as
provide support and professional development to Del- graduate students in the Michigan State University
aware’s educators; and through Summer Institute, our Mosaic ensemble. Inspired by the spirit of our name-
stipend-based Vocal Arts apprenticeship. sake, the sixteenth-century mystic singer and poet who
created her own destiny amid societal expectations to
Arreon A. Harley-Emerson is an assistant the contrary, each performer values the opportunity
professor of choral music at the Pennsyl- to share singing, mentorship, and connectivity with
vania State University, where he serves women engaged in their own communities as agents of
as director of Essence of Joy, an en- change for young women and the arts. mirabai engages
semble committed to music of the Black audiences in meaningful explorations of musics, texts,
Diaspora, and teaches courses in conducting, choral and conversation around contemporary issues of our
music, and music education. A conductor, composer, time.
nonprofit strategist, and equity coach, he also serves as

10 CHORAL JOURNAL January 2026 Volume 66 Number 5