I never planned to be a singer
in a Chorus. Hell. I never even knew I could sing. It just
sort of happened. In December of my Junior year at college
(1990) I went to Saint Louis, MO, for Alpha Phi Omega's
National Convention. One of the things on the schedule was
a session teaching people to sing the fraternity song in 4
part harmony. It seemed like it would be fun, so I went.
Well, not only did we learn the Toast Song, but a guy names
Sean from LSU (Louisiana State University) jumped out of
the chorus and taught us all to sing Lean On Me in 4 part
harmony as well. The next night, at the banquet, in front
of 1600 people we sang the Toast Song, and then busted out
into Lean On Me. It was unbelievable fun. When I got back
to school I decided to audition for the school's a cappella
group, The Clark Bars. They said I had a good voice, but
needed experience. So, I decided to try the schools concert
choir for a semester to get that experience. Who knew it
would actually be fun. I loved it. I stayed with the choir
until I graduated, and then when I came to New York I found
the New York Choral Society to sing with.
It seems like I have said a lot in this section and have
only barely mentioned the Choral Society for which the
section is named. What can I say. I like to talk a lot. The
NY Choral Society is a chorus of about 160 people. We sing
in venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center & The
Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as travelling to many
other great concert halls, and getting to do neat stuff
like backing up Aretha Franklin at the Grammys. Our
repertoire includes popular choral standards and also many
unusual works that are rarely heard. This includes
commissioning new pieces. One of which, Dayenu - A Passover
Oratorio by Paul Alan Levi, is one of my favorite pieces
ever. A few years ago the New York Choral Society recorded
a cd. You can buy it online from Amazon.com. (Yes, I am on it)
On my birthday, May 22, 1999, we sang Verdi's Requiem at
Carnegie Hall.
But wait, there's more. Every year the chorus has a charity
auction and one of the items is "5 minutes of conducting in
Carnegie Hall." How could I pass this up on my birthday, so
this year, during the chorus warmups at 7pm, I got my 5
minutes of fame. What a rush.
The New York Choral Society's web site is http://www.nychoral.org.
And don't forget to check out my pictures of the tours I
have taken with the choral society to:
China 2002
Paris
Venice
China 2008