2023 Elementary & Junior High Honor Choirs Header

The 30th Annual Elementary and Junior High School Honors Choirs are proudly sponsored by NJMEA and NJACDA!

What’s Great About NJ Elementary and Junior High All-State

  • Students get the chance to perform with other talented students
  • Students have the opportunity to perform with excellent conductors from New Jersey and around the country
  • Music teachers are able to network and form friendships during rehearsals
  • Music teachers get great rep ideas and observe rehearsals with accomplished conductors
  • For students and teachers alike, the time commitments are small, but the reward is great.
  • Download our flyer here!

Important Dates!

Our Conductors!

Carol Beadle

Carol Beadle

Our 2023 Elementary School Choir Conductor

CAROL BEADLE is the high school choir director at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, NJ. Previously, she taught at Liberty Corner Elementary School in Bernards Township where she was the 2018 “Teacher of the Year”, and was nominated for the “Governor’s Educator Award”, the “Tony’s Theater Educator Award”, and the “Grammy Music Educator Award”. Her choirs are well regarded in the area and were asked to sing on Good Morning America. She has had student teachers from Rutgers, Westminster Choir College, and the College of New Jersey.

Mrs. Beadle was also adjunct faculty at NYU where she was the director of the NYU Children’s Choir from 2015-2022. She has also directed the NYU Women’s Choir and accompanied and been assistant director of the Rutgers Women’s Choir, NYU Men’s Glee Club, and the Fordham Women’s Choir.

In addition to choir, Mrs. Beadle has been music director for various musical theater productions. In 2022, for the Ridge production of Matilda, she was nominated for "Best Musical Director" and helped the cast to win "Best Overall Chorus" for the Rising Star Awards. She is also co-owner of the LLC "Class Act Drama Camp" which provides musical theater training for grades 2-6 in Bedminster.

Mrs. Beadle is also the Minister of Music at Gloria Dei Church in Chatham, NJ where she leads the adult choir, youth music, and accompanies all services. She graduated from NYU where she earned her masters degree in Music Education and University of Maryland where she earned her Bachelor’s in Music Education.

Dr. Jamie Hillman

Dr. Jamie Hillman

Our 2023 All State Junior High Honors Choir Conductor

JAMIE HILLMAN is an American and Canadian musician, active as a conductor, singer, pianist, music educator, and composer. He holds the endowed Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting at the University of Toronto where he is Director of Choral Studies and an Associate Professor. He conducts the U of T MacMillan Singers and leads the master’s and doctoral degree programs in Choral Conducting, as well as the annual summer Choral Conducting Symposium.

In Fall 2022, Dr. Hillman began an additional role as Associate Conductor and Director of Community Engagement of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the symphonic choir that performs choral-orchestral masterworks with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Hillman is an examiner for Conservatory Canada and has adjudicated, guest conducted, performed, and presented throughout the United States and Canada, and in France, India, Indonesia, and Portugal. He has led All-State, festival, or honor choirs in Connecticut, Georgia, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ontario, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Most recently he conducted a Manhattan Concert Productions National Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall and will return to Carnegie Hall in 2023 to conduct the Canadian National Festival Chorus with National Concerts.

Dr. Hilman earned an associate diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) and degrees from Western University (London, Canada), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Boston University where he studied with Ann Howard Jones. He is the 2012 laureate of the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting from the Ontario Arts Council and is curator and editor of The Jamie Hillman Choral Series published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing.

Our Coordinators and Managers!

  • Coordinator: Kaitlyn Reiser, kreiser@spfk12.org
  • Auditions Managers: Christopher Henke
  • Elementary Festival Manager: Colleen Grzywacz
  • Junior High Festival Manager: Gabriele Hingelberg
  • Facts:
    • Practice recordings will again be available on the NJACDA website to facilitate student and teacher learning
    • NJACDA and NJMEA are co-sponsors of this event

All audition information for the NJ Elementary and Junior High School All State Choir Festival will be posted on this site. 
Click the links above for basic information about what will need to be prepared. 
As the due date gets closer, there will be further explanations about how to upload your audition information onto this website.