A “Distinguished Guest Conductor” of the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus in 2024, Dr. Argine Safari begins her tenure as the club’s Musical Director with the December 2025 Holiday Concert. She is the first female Music Director in the 116-year history of the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus.
An accomplished vocal coach, clinician, conductor, collaborative pianist, and musical director, Dr. Safari has musically directed more than 40 stage productions and performed in several prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Zankel Hall, and NJPAC. She has conducted the NJ All-State Treble Choir, the All-State Opera Chorus, the Bergen County Choir, and the Rockland County Choir.
Argine is a past conductor and pianist for the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus—the ensemble of choice for renowned orchestras and artists including Beyoncé, Elton John, the New York Philharmonic, and composer John Adams. She is also the co-founder of Stage Scene and Song Performing Arts (3SPA), a New Jersey nonprofit youth theater company dedicated to transforming and empowering participants through the arts. Under her leadership, 3SPA has received generous grants and multiple youth theater award nominations.
Dr. Safari is currently the Director of Choirs at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale and the Director of Music/Organist at Christ Lutheran Church in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. Under her leadership, the Pascack Valley choirs have earned numerous awards and accolades, performing across the country—from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles—and internationally in Canada, Italy, and Ireland, where their renditions of Irish songs were showcased on national radio.
Argine also served in a supervisory role at PVHS, overseeing the Music, World Languages, Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS), and Multilingual Learners (MLL) departments. A dedicated advocate for high-quality arts education, in 2025, she served on the NJ Department of Education’s expert and writing committees, contributing to the revision of the state’s most recent Visual and Performing Arts Standards.
Argine’s contributions to Music and Teaching have been widely recognized: she was named: Princeton University’s Distinguished Scholar (2010), Bergen County Teacher of the Year (2015–2016), Evangelina Menendez Trailblazer (2017), Lowell Milken Fellow (2018), NJEA Art Teacher of the Year (2018), and recipient of the NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence (2019). In 2020, Argine was featured in Dr. Bilha Fish’s book Invincible Women: Conversations with 21 Inspiring and Successful American Immigrants.
An accomplished vocal coach, clinician, conductor, collaborative pianist, and musical director, Dr. Safari has musically directed more than 40 stage productions and performed in several prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Zankel Hall, and NJPAC. She has conducted the NJ All-State Treble Choir, the All-State Opera Chorus, the Bergen County Choir, and the Rockland County Choir.
Argine is a past conductor and pianist for the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus—the ensemble of choice for renowned orchestras and artists including Beyoncé, Elton John, the New York Philharmonic, and composer John Adams. She is also the co-founder of Stage Scene and Song Performing Arts (3SPA), a New Jersey nonprofit youth theater company dedicated to transforming and empowering participants through the arts. Under her leadership, 3SPA has received generous grants and multiple youth theater award nominations.
Dr. Safari is currently the Director of Choirs at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale and the Director of Music/Organist at Christ Lutheran Church in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. Under her leadership, the Pascack Valley choirs have earned numerous awards and accolades, performing across the country—from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles—and internationally in Canada, Italy, and Ireland, where their renditions of Irish songs were showcased on national radio.
Argine also served in a supervisory role at PVHS, overseeing the Music, World Languages, Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS), and Multilingual Learners (MLL) departments. A dedicated advocate for high-quality arts education, in 2025, she served on the NJ Department of Education’s expert and writing committees, contributing to the revision of the state’s most recent Visual and Performing Arts Standards.
Argine’s contributions to Music and Teaching have been widely recognized: she was named: Princeton University’s Distinguished Scholar (2010), Bergen County Teacher of the Year (2015–2016), Evangelina Menendez Trailblazer (2017), Lowell Milken Fellow (2018), NJEA Art Teacher of the Year (2018), and recipient of the NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence (2019). In 2020, Argine was featured in Dr. Bilha Fish’s book Invincible Women: Conversations with 21 Inspiring and Successful American Immigrants.
