Artistic Leadership
Morris Conservatory -- Artistic Leadership
John Conte Associate Director Morris Conservatory Staff Accompanist, Orchestrator, Preparatory Division Master Piano Instructor, B.M., M.M.,a piano performance, Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, MD. His postgraduate education includes graduate studies in Jazz Performance and Music Theory at the Manhattan School of Music, Chamber Music at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, and composition at Westminster Choir College. He was a film composer for Calypso Productions in Los Angeles and he's written and recorded the scores for the independent features "Black Eyed Susan" and "Mass of Angels". His teachers have included Leon Fleisher and Karl Ulrich Schnabel. He is the Associate Director of The Morris Conservatory in Mountain Lakes, NJ and the Assistant Conductor of the Lyric Theatre Orchestra in Edgewater, NJ.
Edwin Foster, Founder and Executive Director of the Morris Conservatory since 1987, is a graduate of Westminster Choir College, Princeton. He has studied conducting under Joseph Flummerfelt, Robert Simpson, Robert Shaw, Wilhelm Ehmann; Group Vocal methods under Frauke Hausemann; Children's Choir methods under Helen Kemp; and Orff and Kodaly methods under Sue Ellen Page. His performance experiences include several tours with Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto, Italy; performances with the N.Y. Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, and James Levine; Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa; Pittsburgh Symphony under William Steinberg; National Symphony under Antol Dorati; Atlanta Symphony under Robert Shaw; and Yale Symphony under Krzysztof Penderecki as well as several recordings for CBS Records with the N.Y. Philharmonic. He has conducted extensively throughout Europe including performances in France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
Maestro Foster's firm commitment to the joy and the power of music to develop the person-hoods of people has led to the establishment of:
Symphonic Chorus 1987
Symphony Orchestra 1988
Adult Continuing Education Division 1995
International Touring Choir 1994
Chamber Choir 1996
Preparatory Division (Boonton) 1999
Baroque Orchestra 1996
Youth Division Mountain Lakes (1997)
Advanced Youth Chorus (grades 5-10)
Intermediate Chorus (grades 5-9)
Junior Chorus (Grades 3-4)
Primary Chorus (Grades 1-2)
Youth Division Jefferson Township 2003
Intermediate Chorus (grades 5-9)
New projects currently being developed are:
Youth Division Jefferson Township 2004
Junior Chorus (Grades 3-4)
Primary Chorus (Grades 1-2)
Chester Division Youth Chorus 2004
Intermediate Chorus (grades 5-9)
Preparatory Division (Jefferson Township) 2004
Wayne Division Youth Chorus 2004
Intermediate Chorus (grades 5-9)
Preparatory Division (Chester) 2005
Chester Division Youth Chorus 2005
Junior Chorus (Grades 3-4)
Primary Chorus (Grades 1-2)
Wayne Division Youth Chorus 2005
Junior Chorus (Grades 3-4)
Primary Chorus (Grades 1-2)
Preparatory Division (Wayne) 2006
He is an adjudicator for the North Jersey School Music Association, Region I of the New Jersey Music Educator's Association, a lecturer/panelist for the American Choral Director's Association, NJ Music Educator's Association and is regularly engaged as a lecturer on various musical topics. He is the 2004 recipient of the Morris Council on the Arts "Music Educator in the Arts" award.
Meredith Rymer, B.M., vocal music education in Oxford, Ohio. She is currently pursuing her M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University. Meredith is employed by the Randolph Township Public Schools where she is the director of vocal music for grades 6-8 at Randolph Middle School. She has directed select and non-select groups ranging from grades 3-9. Prior to her position in Randolph, she spent a year teaching abroad in Namibia, Africa for the WorldTeach Program based out of Harvard University. Her vocal experiences include performances with the Sorg/Whitewater Opera Company in Ohio and Indiana and internationally at the Echternach Festival in Luxembourg and Germany.
Erin Delaney, a native of Spokane, Washington, graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Maryland, College Park, and received her Master of Arts in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. During her studies at Columbia University, Ms. Delaney was a voice instructor for Teachers College. She has studied under such notable instructors as Ms. Regina McConnell, Dr. Dino Anagnost, and Dr. Karen Patton Hall. Ms. Delaney has performed as a soloist in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the greater Washington, D.C. area. She currently teaches elementary vocal music in Kenilworth, New Jersey, and serves as a section violin in the Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of Morris Conservatory Symphonic Chorus and Chamber Choir
Judith Stuss is a graduate of Berkeley College School of Business and has been employed as an executive secretary with corporations in New York City. With private lifelong studies in music and art, Ms. Stuss also serves as an instructor of Early Childhood Piano with the Preparatory Division. The mother of six, and an award winning portrait artist, Ms. Stuss' love of children and the arts has enabled her to successfully teach youngsters in various artistic avenues. She has taught piano as well as drawing to young students for many years. In addition to instruction, she most enjoys piano while accompanying children's choruses and performing piano/organ duets. A member since 1987, Ms. Stuss serves in an administrative capacity in several divisions of Morris Conservatory, is currently President of its Board of Directors and sings alto with the Symphonic Chorus and Chamber Choir.
Cherwyn Ambuter holds a B.A. in Music, Tufts University, Medford, MA and a M.M. in Piano Performance, with minor emphasis in choral conducting, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, OH. She has studied piano with Merilyn Neher, Eugene and Elizabeth Pridonoff, Richard Morris. Chamber music coaching with The Tokyo String Quartet, The Raphael Trio, Yehuda Hanani, Jack Kirstein.Earned. She is winner of first prize in the Tufts Concerto Competition, as well as in the Elizabeth Verveer Tischler Piano Competition. She has been: Senior Choir Director, Grace Evangelical Free Church, Greenhills, OH, Senior Chancel Choir Director, Calvary Baptist Church, Warwick, NY. Accompanist, Great Miami Choral Society, Hamilton, OH., Children's Choir Program of Summit Choral Society, Akron, OH, Staff Accompanist, Northern Kentucky University Vocal Department. She maintained an active accompanying career in Greater Cleveland, OH, encompassing school and community groups, studio recitals of instrumental teachers, the Cleveland Contemporary Youth Orchestra, recitals with members of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, student college auditions.
Updated: 4 Nov. 2007