Board of Directors

Benjamin S. Litman, President

Mr. Litman is an attorney practicing law in New York City. Following nearly five years in the public-interest world, where he worked as an appellate criminal-defense attorney at Appellate Advocates, Mr. Litman recently returned to private practice. He is currently counsel at Elman Freiberg PLLC.

Mr. Litman’s interest in music dates to his childhood, when he played saxophone, violin, and piano, and his interest in Con Vivo dates to 2007, when he met the organization’s founder, original executive director, and current board member and chief violist, Amelia Hollander Ames, at the dog run in Jersey City’s Van Vorst Park. Regular attendance at Con Vivo’s concerts and a position on Con Vivo’s board soon followed.

Mr. Litman, a graduate of Harvard Law School and Yale University, has served as Chair and President of the Con Vivo Music Board of Directors since 2009.

Amelia Hollander Ames, Founder

Ms. Hollander Ames founded Con Vivo Music in 2007 upon returning from Israel, where she had spent three years as violist of the Israel Contemporary String Quartet and Tel Aviv Soloists. She built Con Vivo Music on her dream to play chamber music in her hometown of Jersey City at the same high level as she had in Israel and elsewhere around the world, and for audiences that represented the full range of Jersey City’s vibrant population.

Ms. Hollander Ames is a passionate violist, educator and conductor, having served on faculty at New Jersey City University, Third Street Music School Settlement, the Inter-School Orchestras of NY, and Jerusalem’s Hasadna Conservatory. In 2013 she moved to Massachusetts with her husband and two sons where she is a Resident Artist at Boston’s Conservatory Lab Charter School and performs with A Far Cry, Antico/Moderno, North Shore Chamber Music, Harvard Collegium, and the symphony orchestras of Portland, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod. Ms. Hollander Ames returns to Jersey City frequently to perform with Con Vivo Music.

Ms. Hollander Ames, a graduate from the Eastman School of Music and New England Conservatory, founded Con Vivo Music in 2007 and is a founding board member.

Zach Herchen, Artistic Director

Mr. Herchen is a NYC-based saxophonist and audio engineer. He has premiered dozens of compositions ranging from jazz tone poems to Japanese noise rock to multimedia works. His self-released album, “Emerging Voices”, features commissioned works for voice and sax with opera singer Elisabeth Halliday. Mr. Herchen has performed as a soloist in Italy, Sweden, Germany, and at various American universities. He performs with Con Vivo Music, New Thread Quartet, First Construction, Rhymes With Opera, Quiet City, and Man Down.

Mr. Herchen has served on staff at New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, was a Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival Fellow, and an artist-in-resident at Wildacres Retreat. He has performed at Boston University’s Spectral Summer Professional Performance Workshop, the SEAMUS National Conference, Third Practice Electroacoustic Festival, the 4th International Master-Class for Classical Saxophone, and the Look & Listen Festival.

Mr. Herchen, a graduate of The Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, has served as Artistic Director and board member since 2013.

Kevin Clark, Treasurer

Mr. Clark is a composer, grantmaker, and product manager. At New Music USA he led the creation of a new kind of grantmaking platform, giving awardees new tools to engage their audiences alongside financial support. Mr. Clark is also active as a consultant and speaker in the arts and technology sectors, and co-produces the history and comedy podcast Actually Happening.

A resident of Jersey City since 2009, Mr. Clark is committed to the growth and success of Jersey City’s cultural sector. A reading of his opera, Summer’s Twilight, was produced by Art House Productions in 2012. In 2013, Mr. Clark became involved in Con Vivo, first advising on the Modern Dances Kickstarter campaign, and then as a board member.

Mr. Clark, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory, has served as Treasurer of the Con Vivo Music Board of Directors since 2013.

Candice Osborne

Candice Osborne has served as the Councilwoman for downtown Jersey City (Ward E) since 2013, when she was elected by 67% of the vote. She lives with her son, Hunter, in the Paulus Hook neighborhood, where she is also an active member of the Historic Paulus Hook Association.

Candice’s interest in chamber music originated in her childhood study of violin, which she went on to teach to younger students before leaving for college. More recently, she and Hunter have taken up the study of classical guitar. In addition to sitting on Con Vivo’s Board, the Councilwoman is a strong supporter of Jersey City’s renowned concert dance company, Nimbus Dance Works.

After receiving her Masters in Business Administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business, Candice worked as a computer programmer for MetLife. She now works at WebMD in program and product management.

Erin Rogers

Erin Rogers is a saxophonist and composer based in New York City. Her works have been performed by the Lost Dog Ensemble, IKTUS, Project Fusion, Anubis Quartet, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and Madrid’s Tribuna Sax-Ensemble. She has played with Copland House, Lost Dog, mise-en, and PRISM, and is co-artistic director and treasurer of the experimental performance ensemble, thingNY, and founding member of the New Thread Saxophone Quartet. In 2013, Erin was awarded a Jerome Fund Commission from the American Composers Forum for Mother Earth, a work for flute, sax quartet and electronics, that premiered at Carnegie Hall in June, 2014. Her work Trajectories was performed for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2013 and featured at the 2015 Ecstatic Music Festival.

Originally from western Canada, Erin completed undergraduate studies at the University of Alberta and received Masters Degrees in composition and performance from Bowling Green State University. In 2006, Erin joined the publishing team at Peermusic Classical, located in midtown Manhattan. Erin is Treasurer of the Music Publisher’s Association. Founded in 1895, the MPA is the oldest music trade organization in the United States. Ms. Rogers has served as a member of the Con Vivo Music Board of Directors since 2015. www.erinmrogers.com