Cindy Ellis

Cuban-American music educator, vocalist and choral director at Miami Arts Studio in Miami, Florida. She conducted MAS Vocal’s TED2026 performance of Jacob Collier’s arrangement of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

MAS Vocal Gives “Bridge Over Troubled Water” a Collective Voice

Music maker Jacob Collier introduces MAS Vocal, a high-school choir conducted by Cindy Ellis, as a group whose singing can divide a listener’s life into a before and after. In Collier’s arrangement of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the choir gives collective force to the song’s promise of staying near, offering comfort and taking another person’s part in hardship.

TEDSep 5, 20263 min read