Dana Cooper

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Dr. Edward Schmiedecke

Dr. Edward Schmiedecke received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in choral conducting and music education from Florida State University and the University of South Florida, and his Doctorate in vocal performance from the University of Miami. He has also studied choral, orchestral and opera conducting in Europe at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria and participated in the Carnegie Hall Professional Musicians Seminars with Robert Shaw. Other choral and orchestral conducting teachers include Joseph Flummerfelt, Lee Kjelson, Norman Luboff, Richard Westenberg, Paul Salamunovich, Eph Ely and Cornelius Eberhardt.

For seventeen years, Dr. Schmiedecke was Director of Music at Emmanuel Church in Ridgewood, and during that time led the Chancel Choir in a variety of works from diverse musical periods, earning the choir a reputation for musical excellence and superior choral singing. Under his leadership, the choir performed a varied repertoire of choral/orchestral masterworks as well as numerous smaller works from the standard repertoire. Ridgewood concerts under his direction include a gala concert to benefit the United Nations and Medicine for Peace, which featured over 100 Ridgewood singers and instrumentalists, critically acclaimed performances of Handel’s Messiah, and many other musical projects supporting ecumenical efforts in the community. Dr. Schmiedecke has also served as Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Las Vegas, Miami Springs Presbyterian Church in Miami, and Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, Florida.

As an orchestral conductor, Dr. Schmiedecke has led orchestras in every musical genre from symphonic works to opera, operetta and musical theater. Formerly Associate Conductor of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Dr. Schmiedecke has also prepared works for the Greater Miami Opera, the Miami Beach Symphony, Opera at Florham, and the grand opening of Walt Disney World. Dr. Schmiedecke’s credits also include conducting appearances at the Midsummer Nights Festival in Graz, Austria, and with the Ridgewood Symphony and Ridgewood Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. Most recently he was conductor of the Ridgewood High School Chamber Orchestra.

A mainstay in the musical life of New Jersey for the past twenty years, Dr. Schmiedecke recently retired from his position as Supervisor of Music, Dance, Visual and Applied Arts for the Ridgewood public school system. As a judge/adjudicator and clinician for Performing Arts Consultants, he works with choirs from all over the United States, and has been invited to present choral clinics and conduct festival choirs in Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and Wisconsin by the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators National Conference (MENC). He has served on the faculties of Barry University in Miami as conductor of the University Chorale and Chamber Orchestra, William Paterson University, and as Director of Choral and Orchestral Programs for the Southern Nevada Summer Music School in Mount Charleston, Nevada.

In his parallel career as an operatic baritone, he made his solo opera debut in the Greater Miami Opera production of Andrea Chenier starring Placido Domingo, and also toured in Miami Opera's productions of The Impresario and Trouble in Tahiti. Other appearances include the roles of Figaro in Il Barbiere de Siviglia with the Queens Opera and Vermont Opera Theater, Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music at the Ocean Breeze Theatre in New York, and Frank in Die Fledermaus with Opera Classics of New Jersey. A special project was a series of television specials about the composers of New England for PBS/New Hampshire and the Yankee Cable Network.

As an educator, Dr. Schmiedecke serves as chairman of the Governing Committee of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Master Teacher Collaborative and has served on the executive board of the New Jersey Music Administrators Association. He was a member of the New Jersey Department of Education team which developed and wrote the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Fine, Visual and Performing Arts Frameworks. He has taught on the faculties of Barry University, William Paterson University, the University of Miami, and is a guest lecturer at New Jersey City University.

Carol Schmiedecke

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Eunjung Ahn

Organist at First Presbyterian Church since September, 2002, EUNJUNG AHN has brought with her years of church music experience as both organist and choir director. Ms. Ahn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Church Music from Nyack College and a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from Westminster Choir College. She is an accomplished solo performer and accompanist on both organ and piano.

She has accompanied performances of large choral works with numerous choral groups including the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra, Bach Choral Society of Seoul, Korea, and the choirs at The Presbyterian Church of the Palisades and here at First Presbyterian Church of Ridgewood. Eunjung is a member of the AGO and the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra

Dana Feeney

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Carolyn Reitz

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Bill Voorhis

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Carol Voorhis

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Julia Bolt

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Jessica Strader

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