The Central Jersey Choral Society (CJCS) has been a pillar of the local arts scene since 1949, bringing classical choral music to communities across the region.
Throughout its history, the CJCS has enjoyed periods of success, but it has also faced challenges, including declining membership and the need for rebuilding. Now, as the organization celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is once again flourishing and is actively recruiting new members from across the Mercer County area.
As part of that community outreach, the CJCS is holding a Messiah Sing Along on Sunday, December 15, at 2 p.m. at Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church in Ewing. Audience members are welcome to join the choir in singing George Frideric Handel’s classic work, with scores provided, or just listen. Admission is a $10 suggested donation.
Headquartered in Ewing, the choir has had several previous names — Trenton Community Chorus, Mercer County Chorus, and Greater Trenton Choral Society — and its current name, adopted in 2009, reflects its diverse membership of 60 to 65 singers from Mercer, Bucks, and Burlington counties.
The CJCS celebrates its 75th anniversary under the leadership of artistic director Christopher Loeffler, who joined the organization 16 years ago at a low point in its history.
In 2008, as the CJCS approached its 60th anniversary, membership had dwindled to just 14 people, finances were strained, and the organization’s board weighed shutting down versus bringing on a new artistic director to breathe new life into the choir.
They chose to hire Loeffler, who became the fifth artistic director in CJCS’ history. In turn, he immediately leveraged the connections he had made through his roles as a high school chorus teacher, vocalist, performing arts facilitator, and director of multiple choirs. First, he brought in four friends who had the ability to musically strengthen the choir. From there, the organization began recruiting anyone who had an interest in singing.
“I strongly believe that anybody can sing,” says Loeffler, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from Westminster Choir College. “If you want to learn how, it’s a skill.” He says he believed that if the CJCS had a few strong voices that could carry parts, then he could surround the strong voices with those who are more timid.
A joint effort between the organization’s members to expand the CJCS resulted in an increase of more than 500 percent in membership and more financial security. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a drop in membership, the organization reached 85 members.
“The trick to 75 years is just making a commitment to revitalizing,” Loeffler says.
Some long-time members remember when the CJCS had more than 100 singers, according to Caroline Steward, who has been a member since the 1970s.
The organization’s founder, Harry Mulder, who died in 2011, brought in hundreds of members during his more than 30 years of directorship. Mulder was a music teacher at Trenton Central High School and recruited many of his students to join the organization.
A partial history of the CJCS shared on its website tells the story of the choir’s early days as follows:
“In the fall of 1949 at the invitation of the Trenton Junior Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Harry Mulder and a small group of young singers recently graduated from Trenton High School gave a concert in the Hotel Hildenbrecht in downtown Trenton. This short performance of three songs was so well received that the students, with the support of JCC, convince Harry Mulder to continue as a permanent ensemble.
“Wilson Sturdevant and Tylor Winner went to the Trenton Junior Chamber of Commerce and requested that they sponsor the Trenton Community Chorus. Sturdevant then continued on as Chairperson of the project after approved. The group adopted the name Greater Trenton Choral Society and practice was held at the City Hall in Trenton. Harry Mulders philosophy was to open up membership to anyone who could carry a tune, a philosophy that continues today, and the group steadily grew.
“In June 1950 a concert was held at the Stacy Trent Hotel on Trenton. In attendance were the Jaycees, their wives, and a small audience. This begins the long tradition of providing performances of some of the greatest works of choral literature to the area’s music lovers.”
Mulder was “legendary,” says Steward, a Ewing resident who joined the organization as a high school student at the encouragement of her church’s choir director, Deidre Hindley, who is also a long-time member of the CJCS. Steward continued with the choir until she stepped away temporarily to raise her own children.
Hindley also left the organization for some time, and when she decided to rejoin the choir in the early 2000s, she once again convinced Steward to come along. This time, Steward brought her daughter, Sarah Steward, with her.
Sarah, who is the CEO of Lawrence-based nonprofit HomeFront and a member of the Ewing Township Council, went on to become president of CJCS in 2013. She served in that role until 2022, when current president Leanne Sine filled the position.
Over the years the CJCS has stayed true to its mission, which according to Sarah Steward, is “creating high quality classical choral music in our community.”
For its 75th season, Loeffler is taking inspiration from the CJCS’s passion for classical choral music and its history to organize performances that depict the heart of the organization.
Long-time members often look back on the 1970s as the “glory days” of the organization, Loeffler says. The reminiscing inspired the artistic director to make a historical musical connection.
“That’s exactly what they were doing in the Renaissance,” says Loeffler — “looking back to Classical Greece and Rome.”
Incorporating history lessons into performances is something that the artistic director is known for, both in practice and on stage.
“The choir often jokes that I don’t turn my teacher off,” Loeffler says. “I love to tell them the history of the piece, of the composer, of the time period, of all of those things.”
This season, Loeffler is using his knowledge of history to curate a concert that tells the organization’s story from its successful past, through its comeback after facing hardships, to its embrace of the present and optimism for the future.
“My goal for this year was to finally acknowledge all that we were and help it inform who we are,” Loeffler says. “I don’t want the choir to think that our glory days are behind us. We are doing great stuff right now, and the glory days can be ahead of us.”
The 75th anniversary concert, scheduled for Saturday, January 18, at All Saints Church in Princeton, is titled “A Renaissance.” The program is chronological and travels from the beginning of the Renaissance period until the end. The performance will feature works by Guillaume Du Fay, a composer from the early Renaissance, and Claudio Monteverdi, a composer from the later Renaissance, among others. Tickets are $20 in advance; $25 at the door.
A June concert featuring Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah” will conclude the anniversary season.
But first is “Messiah,” which has been performed by the organization since 1954, when the choir performed it at the Trenton War Memorial. Although they do not perform the piece every year, many members — whether they sang in the CJCS decades ago or more recently — have memories of singing “Messiah,” according to Caroline Steward.
“It’s our big piece that everybody knows,” she says. “It’s a big sing-along.”
The organization will be performing “Messiah” to commemorate the piece’s significance in its history. Sine and the rest of the CJCS board are hoping that past members will rejoin and participate.
“I hope that [the concerts] bring people back to the choir, whether it’s this choir or another one like it,” Sine says.
While 75 years is a milestone, both Caroline and Sarah Steward say that they would like to see the organization make it to its 100-year anniversary.
“I think there are more people out there that we could reach either in terms of singers or community, and that’s really our mission, to reach folks,” says Sarah Steward. “It just brings people joy to see their community members do this.”
Anyone interested in joining the CJCS should e-mail Dana Maiuro at membership@cjchoralsociety.org. No auditions are required; most members have no professional vocal training. Tenor voices are particularly needed, but all voice parts are welcome.
The choir holds regular rehearsals on Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. at Ewing Presbyterian Church, 100 Scotch Road, Ewing.
Messiah Sing Along, Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church, 137 West Upper Ferry Road, Ewing. Sunday, December 15, 2 p.m. $10 suggested donation.
A Renaissance, All Saints Church, 16 All Saints Road, Princeton. Saturday, January 18, 7 p.m. $20 in advance; $25 at the door. www.cjchoralsociety.org.
