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NJ ACDA invites ensembles to apply to perform as a Spotlight Choir at the Summer Conference. This year’s theme, “Still We Sing,” celebrates the power of choral music to sustain, connect, and uplift communities through challenge and change. We seek ensembles whose performances reflect resilience, renewal, and joy through inclusive, collaborative, and artistically compelling programming. Applicants are encouraged to present thoughtful programs that amplify diverse voices, explore a range of choral traditions, and highlight the enduring human need to sing together. All singing ensembles are welcome to apply, and all current ACDA members are eligible. Join us in affirming the strength of our choral community—because no matter the moment, still we sing.
READ ABOUT OUR HEADLINER & CONDUCTORS
Rollo Dilworth is Professor of Choral Music Education and the Elaine Brown Choral Chair at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia, PA. He also serves as Artistic and Music Director for Singing City Choir of Philadelphia, and as Principal Conductor for the School District of Philadelphia’s All-City High School Choir. Over 200 of his choral compositions and arrangements are published and currently in circulation. Dilworth frequently serves as a guest conductor and/or clinician for professional, school, community, church, festival and all-state choirs throughout the United States and abroad. Prior to his Temple University appointment in 2009, Dilworth was director of the music education program and director of the choral program at North Park University in Chicago (1996-2009). Dilworth has a bachelor of science in music education from Case Western Reserve University; a M.Ed. from University of Missouri-St. Louis; and a D.M.A. from Northwestern University. He is an oft-published composer of choral music, with emphasis in the areas of spirituals and gospel-inspired works.
A frequent presenter at local, state, regional and national conferences, Dilworth has conducted 43 all-state choirs at various levels (elementary, middle school, high school), and has conducted 6 regional honor choirs and 4 national honor choirs (ADCA, OAKE and NafME). He has most recently appeared as guest conductor for international choral festivals and master classes in Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Ireland, and China as well as all-state choirs in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, Arizona and Massachusetts. He has also led honor choirs for the Central and Southwest regions of the American Choral Directors Association. International festival and clinic invitations include Canada, Singapore, Austria and France.
Dilworth is currently National Board Chair for Chorus America. He is an active life member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He also holds memberships with several other organizations, including the National Association for Music Education (NafME), the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM) and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). In 2017, he received the Temple University Faculty Award for Research and Creative Achievement.
Amanda Sprague Hanzlik is President of the ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) Eastern Region, Director of Choral Activities at Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut and currently serves as Director of Music at Immanuel Congregational Church UCC in Hartford, Connecticut. Twice a semifinalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award (2024 & 2022) she is also a recipient of the 2023 Connecticut State Department Hero of the Arts Award.
Hanzlik made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2023 and is a frequent guest conductor for all-state and regional honor choirs. Under her direction, the E.O. Smith Chamber Singers are regularly featured at ACDA and NAfME festivals and conferences as a selected/performing ensemble.
Notable initiatives and collaborations include co-creating All-State choral experiences with composers, developing integrated projects with Scott Hoying and Pentatonix, founding the Connecticut All-State High School Treble Choir and the Children’s Justice Choir at the Aspen Music Festival, and providing free online resources for educators through CT-ACDA during the 2020 pandemic. She has also published in The Choral Journal and ChorTeach and has been featured in numerous industry podcasts and media.
Deeply passionate about creating new choral music with living composers, she strives to uplift and elevate the art and artists of the choral art medium into all spaces of culture and society.
Amanda Hanzlik holds a BA in Music/Vocal Performance and K-12 Education from the University of Iowa and an MA in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
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Patrick Hachey, Director of Choral Activities and Lead Teacher for the Performing Arts Grades
5-12, has been a music educator for 25 years, and is currently in his 21st year of teaching at Roxbury High School. Mr. Hachey holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance degree from Indiana University at Bloomington. While studying at IU, he served two years as the assistant director of the world renowned Singing Hoosiers and was a founding member of the well-known men’s a cappella group, Straight No Chaser. In 2011, Mr. Hachey was awarded the Singing Hoosiers Alumni Council Distinguished Alumni Award.
Before coming to Roxbury Township, Mr. Hachey held choral directing positions at
Pequannock Township High School, Pompton Plains, NJ, and Hanover Park High School, East
Hanover, NJ.
During his time at Roxbury High School, he has conducted Classic Sounds Honors,
Roxbury Chorale, Sensation, Revelation, Melodies, Madrigals, Concert Choir, Freshman Treble
Choir, and the Eighth Grade Chorus at the district’s middle school. Under his direction, Roxbury
Melodies, the auditioned treble choir, was selected as a performance ensemble for the 2014 ACDA Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore. In 2019, the Classic Sounds Honors performed at the National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conference in Pittsburgh. Classic Sounds was also selected to perform at the 2022 ACDA Eastern Region Conference in Boston. In addition, Mr. Hachey serves as Drama Advisor at Roxbury High School, directing both
the Fall Drama and the Spring Musical, and has a studio of private voice students. Still active as
a lyric baritone in the New York metropolitan area, he has vast experience in solo performance,
including classical art song, opera, musical theater, jazz and pop styles.
Mr. Hachey was the guest conductor of the 2006 & 2012 Sussex County High School
Honors Choirs, the 2008 NJ Region I Mixed Choir, and the 2013 NJ Region II Women’s Choir.
In 2017, Mr. Hachey was selected to conduct the New Jersey All-State Mixed Choir. He is a
sought-after choral clinician throughout the Northeast, having adjudicated in Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and New Jersey, and is currently the Treasurer for the New Jersey American Choral
Directors Association Executive Board.