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

Ledyard High School New Jersey Youth Choirs
Chamber Choir Coriste

The Ledyard High School Chamber Choir is the The New Jersey Youth Chorus was founded in 1992
premier choral ensemble at Ledyard High School. This and is the auditioned choral program of Wharton Arts
auditioned group comprises twenty students in grades for students in grades three through twelve. Its premier
ten through twelve. The group has enjoyed success at high school women’s ensemble, Coriste, has collaborat-
national music competitions for many years. During ed with leading ensembles like the New Jersey Sympho-
the Covid-19 shutdown, the group produced dozens of ny Orchestra, Canadian Brass, and VOCES8 Founda-
virtual choir performances, which helped to raise over tion’s Lyyra, and has shared the stage with esteemed
five thousand dollars for charities and scholarships. artists. They have performed at the White House, Su-
The LHS Chamber Choir has premiered several new per Bowl XLVIII, and in iconic venues such as Carne-
choral compositions, including music from Rob Dietz, gie Hall and Lincoln Center. Coriste has been featured
Tehilla Alphonso, Jared Gravely, Shawn Kirchner, Sta- at regional and national music educator conferences,
cey Gibbs, and Jim Papoulis. The LHS Chamber Choir and through the choir’s Kids for Kids initiative, the en-
was a national finalist for the 2024 American Prize in semble uses music as a force for service.
Choral Performance.
Trish Joyce, founder and director of the
Melanie Wade Cometa is the director of New Jersey Youth Chorus and director of
choral activities at Ledyard High School, Coriste, holds a BM from Marywood Col-
her alma mater, where she conducts over lege and an MM from Westminster Choir
150 students in nine choirs. Her ensem- College and is certified in Kodály meth-
bles have performed as guest artists with odology. Joyce has taught in Pennsylvania and New Jer-
CONCORA, Voce, the Mystic River Chorale, the sey schools, served as adjunct professor at Westminster
Shoreline Chorale, and as a featured choir at the 2017 Choir College and Rutgers University, and has worked
CT-ACDA state conference. From March 2020 to June as an organist and choirmaster in several local church-
2021, Cometa and the Ledyard choirs produced over es. She has led workshops, presented sessions, and adju-
fifty virtual ensemble projects, including three world dicated festivals for NJSMA, NJ-ACDA, and NJMEA,
premieres and a feature-length virtual musical. Her and has conducted the NJ all-state women’s choir and
work has been featured on ChoirBuzz, The Choir Proj- central NJ junior high honors choir. Joyce served on the
ect, and most recently at Carnegie Hall. Cometa is the NJ-ACDA board as R&R chair for children’s choirs and
president of Connecticut ACDA and is a regular cli- as president and co-chaired the 2016 ACDA National
nician and guest conductor throughout the Northeast. Children’s Choirs Retreat.

CHORAL JOURNAL January 2026 Volume 66 Number 5 21