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
Mexico 2010