A choir room where anyone can sing
For almost three decades, Adam Paltrowitz served as Director of Choral Activities at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School in New York — and did something most directors are told is impossible: he built an elite program without auditions.
His ensembles have always been self-selected. No separating students by talent or skill level. No cutting the kids who need music most. And yet his choirs toured throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States, held to the highest standard of musical excellence — proof that the two things are not in conflict.
At the heart of it is a philosophy Adam pioneered: every student is a soloist. Every singer in his choirs continually learns and performs solo repertoire in multiple languages — because a choir is only as confident as the individuals inside it.
That culture of ownership went further than the concert stage. His program became known for cultivating eight student-run a cappella ensembles, some of which performed on national and local television.
Adam earned his B.S. in music education from New York University, and both an M.A. in vocal pedagogy and an Ed.M. in choral conducting from Columbia University's Teachers College. Today, through Choral Clarity, he pours all of it — the frameworks, the systems, the hard-won lessons — into helping middle and high school choir directors build programs that thrive without burning out the person leading them.
