Emily Ellsworth

Artistic Director Emerita
1996-2018

Nationally recognized as a leader in the field of youth chorus directors, Ms. Ellsworth served as Artistic Director of the renowned Anima Singers from 1996 to 2018. She brings to her work a passion for both the vocal art and for young people and their enormous potential. Under her direction, the chorus received the 2009 Dale Warland Singers Commissioning Award, given by Chorus America and the American Composers Forum and Chorus America’s once-in-an-organizational-lifetime 2008 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. Additional awards included the 2000 United States Library of Congress Local Legacies Award and the 2001 ASCAP Chorus America award for adventurous programming.

She prepared various ensembles within Anima for performances with Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Ravinia Festival, Grant Park Symphony, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Sinfonietta, Joffrey Ballet, seven CD recordings, national and regional conferences of ACDA, Kodaly educators, and Chorus America, and concert tours to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, China, and Africa. Ms. Ellsworth has served on the music panel for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. and was the advisor of Boosey & Hawkes’ Opera Workshop series. She spent over 20 years teaching and singing as a voice faculty member in various college and university settings. In frequent demand as guest clinician throughout the U.S., she has also led workshops in the Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong, Brazil, and conducted the Somerset Festival at Wells Cathedral, England, in July 2009. Ms. Ellsworth holds the Master of Music degree with honors from the University of Southern California and served the American Choral Directors’ Association as the Central Division R&S Chair for Children’s Choirs.