Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble

Andrew M. Benware

is founding Artistic Director and conductor of the Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble. He has served on the faculty of the Ithaca College School of Music and is currently the Director of Choral Activities at Saranac Lake High School. He also teaches and conducts at the Ithaca College Summer Music Academy, an intensive college preparatory music program. Benware is active as a lecturer and clinician, having presented at the NYSSMA Winter Conference in Rochester, and is in frequent demand as a guest conductor for honors ensembles (both instrumental and choral) throughout New York State. He is a native of the North Country and has held prior posts as the Director of Instrumental Music at Saranac Lake High School and as Director of Choral Activities at Peru Middle/High School. He is active as a performer of voice, trumpet, and piano, and serves as the organist at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Saranac Lake. He holds both a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education with a concentration on the Trumpet and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the Ithaca College School of Music.

Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble (NAVE)

is a highly selective chamber choir comprised of professional and amateur singers from across the region. Formed in 2011 as a special project organized by Hill and Hollow Music, the ensemble has recently been launched as an independent entity. NAVE performs a wide variety of choral repertoire and has featured collaborations with pianist Elizabeth Cordes, The Four Winds recorder consort, and the Lake Placid Sinfonietta. Recent performance venues include St. Peter's Church and the historic Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh, St. Bernard's Church in Saranac Lake, Notre Dame Church in Malone, The Long Lake Methodist Church, and St. Agnes Church in Lake Placid, as well as the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.