Saya Callner, Director of Music Ministry

Email: scallner@parkavenuechristian.com

Conductor Saya Callner enjoys making music in the New York City area, from church music to conducting orchestras, choruses, and opera.

Ms. Callner first came to the U.S. from her native Japan to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She later relocated to New York City where she received Master of Music degrees in choral conducting and music theory at Mannes, studying choral conducting with Mark Shapiro and music theory with Robert Cuckson and David Loeb. Ms. Callner then went on to receive a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting with Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan. Currently, Ms. Callner is in the DMA program in orchestral conducting under Kynan Johns at Rutgers University.

Ms. Callner is the founder (2007) and director of New York’s Chromatic Voice Exchange, a unique chorus made up of music theorists, composers, and instrumentalists. Dedicated to working with living composers, Ms. Callner has premiered more than 30 new compositions with her chorus. Far from limiting herself to new compositions, Ms. Callner has also performed such large choral-orchestral pieces as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsodie, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and she premiered an opera in one act, A Night of Pity by Robert Cuckson, with a fully staged cast at the Mannes College of Music. She has also been the conductor of the New York Mixed Chorus since 2012.

A dedicated educator, Ms. Callner teaches young people of talent in piano and chorus, and currently works at the Bronx Bethany After School Enrichment Program, as well as with Midori and Friends.

Ms. Callner is very excited to be part of the Park Avenue Christian Church music family.