2026 NYC Professional Learning Day

NY-ACDA proudly presents its fourth annual NYC Professional Learning Day on Saturday, April 25, 2026, 9am-3pm at LaGuardia High School, New York, NY.

This event is for choral directors, choral musicians, and K-12 music educators who seek to connect to a wider professional network and gain inspiration for continued work in choral music education. The day will feature multiple interest sessions presented by NY-ACDA leaders, and there will be ample time to build community with colleagues over morning coffee and lunch (included). This year’s theme, “Teaching with Joy and Leading with Heart,” is an invitation to reignite our passion for teaching through our shared love of choral music.

Schedule

Session Descriptions

Solfège to Score: Practical Pathways to Music Literacy

Presenter: Emily Crowe Sobotko

Helping singers become confident music readers can transform the pace and depth of the choral rehearsal. In this session, we will explore practical, Kodály-informed strategies that connect music literacy directly to the repertoire singers are learning. Through short, sequenced activities using solfège, rhythm syllables, and scaffolded sight-reading exercises, participants will experience how foundational skill-building can lead naturally into reading real excerpts from choral literature. Together we’ll explore ways to build singers’ independence, strengthen rhythmic and tonal understanding, and make sight-reading a meaningful part of the rehearsal process. These strategies are especially useful for younger musicians in K-12 settings, but can be adapted for ensembles of any level.

Beyond the Score: Simple Ways to Create and Explore New Repertoire

Presenter: Alex Nguyen

Explore the music-making process by adapting and creating music together. We’ll focus on simple arranging techniques and using lead sheets to explore songs without existing choral arrangements.

You took the words right out of my mouth!

Presenter: Penelope Cruz

Choral singing is dependent on delivery of TEXT. We conductors should be responsible to what words the singers are delivering, how they are delivering it, and how that delivery effects performance and impact. Using pieces I’ve used in my own practice, we will discuss poetry, teaching understanding, learning diction in unfamiliar languages/dialects, and using articulation and diction to further musical means.

Building the Whole Student Through Choir

Presenter: Antoine Dolberry

Focus: Well-rounded development, Choir as a life-skills lab, Teaching discipline, leadership, and confidence, What you want students to remember 10 years later , Writing Prompt: creating your choir’s legacy statement!

Presenter Bios

Emily Crowe Sobotko

R&R Chair Liaison, NY-ACDA

Emily Crowe Sobotko is a music educator, conductor, and arts leader based in New York City who believes deeply in the power of joyful, skillful music-making. She currently serves as Senior Manager of Music Programs for Uncommon Schools, where she supports instrumental and choral programs across multiple campuses and works with teachers to expand access to high-quality music education for thousands of students.

Emily is also an Associate Conductor with the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, where she works with the treble ensemble of adult singers and helps champion advanced treble repertoire, including works by young and living composers.

Previously, Emily taught elementary music, high school choir, and middle school math, and directed the after-school choirs at Brooklyn New School. She holds both Orff Schulwerk and Kodály certifications and enjoys sharing practical, creative strategies with fellow educators through workshops and professional learning sessions.

Penelope Cruz

President-Elect, ACDA East

Penelope Cruz has taught music at all grade levels, conducted community children’s and festival and honor choirs, and sung professionally. Since 2003, she has been the choral conductor at White Plains (NY) HS where the choirs have performed a body of varied repertoire, including commissioned works and major works, performing locally and in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She was President of the ACDA Eastern Region from 2020-2022 and will again serve as President 2026-2028.  From 2016-2020, she was co-chair of the inaugural National ACDA Diversity Initiatives Committee. She has served as the program and honor choir chair for Eastern Region conferences since 2012 and was the NY ACDA President.  In these roles, she has led conference programs, presented various workshops, has aimed to bring quality repertoire to every situation, and fostered diversity of all kinds. She was a writer on the Arts Standards Revision Committee for the NYSED. Penelope Cruz is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and Eastman School of Music and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Antoine Dolberry

ADEI Chair, NY-ACDA

Antoine Dolberry is a dynamic performer, celebrated vocalist, and passionate music educator whose musical journey began with early training in the world-renowned Boys Choir of Harlem. As a member, he toured internationally, performing in numerous countries and across the United States, all of which shaped his love for music education! 

At the heart of Antoine’s work is his unwavering love for celebrating and representing Black culture through music. Whether through gospel, spirituals, R&B, or classical works by Black composers, he is intentional about preserving and elevating the sounds, stories, and contributions of the African American musical tradition. His performances and teaching center Black excellence, cultural pride, and artistic authenticity, empowering students to see themselves as part of a rich and resilient musical legacy.

Antoine Dolberry’s mission is rooted in passion, excellence, and empowerment, using music as a vehicle to uplift, transform, and unite communities across generations.

Alex Nguyen

Music in Worship R&R Chair, NY-ACDA

Alex Nguyen is a New York City–based trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and arranger. He currently serves as Director of Music at the Church of the Epiphany in Manhattan, guiding a program during a period of renewal. Previously, he served at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn and Calvary-St. George’s Church in Manhattan, where he enjoyed leading choirs, expanding musical offerings, and creating concert series and programs that brought people together. Having worked outside the traditional choral world, Alex brings diverse influences to the programs he leads. Through his Substack, “Sunday Setlist,” he shares insights and resources for church music directors.