What drew you to join our organization, and what keeps you passionate about performing with us?

It was a combination of knowing someone who was a singer in the chorus, Dave Simpson, and attending performances. He and I had met in a poetry workshop and struck up a friendship. I came to see a performance of a Robert Moran commission and liked the fact that it was something new and different... There was a section in the piece where the singers were arrayed along the outside aisles surrounding the audience, and they were improvising vocal riffs over ambient chords. It thought that was pretty cool.

Then, many years later, I attended the Pulitzer Prize-winning commission from Juia Wolfe, Anthracite Fields. It was held at the Episcopal Cathedral on 38th St. When you walked in, you were greeted by ushers holding cave lanterns. There were candles everywhere, and the combination of lighting, digital video, choreography, text culled from interviews with mining families and news accounts, and minimalist music was hypnotic. After the performance, I thought: This is an organization I want to be involved with. Because they weren't just doing the classics. They were actively exploring new work and stretching the possibilities of what a choral performance could be. So I auditioned and was accepted.



And that's part of the reason I continue to be involved. But also, it's a fantastic and historic organization, with many, many talented and good people. It's a wonderful community to be a part of, and we're still doing things that are unorthodox, and we're still making history.