Professional Background

Dr. Deborah Simpkin King is a choral and vocal performer and educator, working primarily in northern New Jersey. As Founder and Artistic Director of the thirty-five-voice choral ensemble, Schola Cantorum on Hudson, her choral work is favorably reviewed. She is the alto in the professional vocal quartet, Chantez! She is also Music Director at St. John's Episcopal Church, in Montclair, New Jersey, where she leads the eighteen-voice St. John's Singers. Dr. King has voice studios both in downtown Jersey City and in the Glen Ridge/Bloomfield/East Orange area. She also guest conducts and provides choral workshop sessions, focusing on vocal production, sight reading, and other matters of the choral art.

Dr. King holds a PhD in Musicology (minor: choral conducting) from the University of North Texas; a Master of Music in Music Education (choral focus) from North Texas State University, and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance (minor: choral conducting) from Texas Christian University. All of her academic choices--vocal, conducting, and historical--were undertaken for the purpose of deepening her skills as a performer. Her mentor of twenty years was Caro Carapetyan, the choral work of whom was the subject of her master's thesis ("Caro Carapetyan: His Choral Beliefs and Practices," 1981). Additional independent study includes work with Gregg Smith, Robert Shaw, Julius Hereford, Lloyd Pfautsch, and James Rives-Jones, among others.

Dr. King has held graduate, undergraduate, and administrative posts on several campuses (Kutztown University, Jersey City State College, Tarrant County Junior College, as an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas, and as a sabbatical replacement at Rutgers University), teaching courses in music history, voice, sight singing, and choral conducting. She was the recipient of the 1995 award "In Recognition of Outstanding Service to College and Community" award, presented by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, at Jersey City State College. As an interim professor at Kutztown University, Dr. King was nominated as the 1997 "Student Organization Advisor of the Year."

Dr. King is also a published editor and writer. Her edition of full anthems by Baroque composer John Blow, published by Oxford University Press, has been very favorably reviewed ("A Blow Anthology," 1996). Her dissertation, "The Full Anthems and Services of John Blow and the Question of an English Stile Antico," was honored with the 1990 University of North Texas Graduate Dean's Dissertation Award for Scholarly Communication.

For the past ten years, Dr. King has coordinated the annual High School Choral Festival for the New Jersey Chapter of the American Choral Directors' Association. Under her tenure as Coordinator, the Festival has incorporated competitive sight singing, now commissioning its own material for that event. She has served on the state Board of Directors for fourteen years. In addition to her activity within ACDA, Dr. King is also an active member of Chorus America and the National Association for Teachers of Singing.

Dr. King has two sons: Patrick Daniel, 28, Production Assistant at Comedy Central's The Daily Show, and graduating senior in Broadcasting at Montclair State University; and Michael Alexander, 20, a sophomore (and a tenor!) at Westminster Choir College, in Princteon, NJ, majoring in vocal performance.