Good news. After two years of social isolation, the Borough of Manhattan Community Downtown Chorus (www.downtownchorus.org) has resumed its in-person rehearsals and performances since Fall 2021. We are looking for many new voices to join a friendly — and varied — core group of singers. Singers of all experience levels and of all vocal ranges are welcome. The ability to read music is a plus but not a requirement as is prior chorale experience.
BMCC Downtown Chorus (www.downtownchorus.org) is a choral organization dedicated to fostering and sharing the art and joy of choral music and to enriching and educating our city’s downtown community through concert performances of music from diverse historical periods and cultures. Members include students, faculty, and staff from BMCC, as well as residents and professional of the downtown and neighboring communities.
Downtown Chorus performs regularly including collaborations with the Downtown Symphony Orchestra, BMCC Concert Choir and College Chorus on and off campus. Since 2008, members from these choruses participated and performed in Carnegie Hall receiving excellent remarks! Highlights of these accomplishments include a grand performance with New York Chamber Orchestra on Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living in Carnegie Hall in June 2022.
The chorus’s founder and artistic director is Dr. Eugenia Oi Yan Yau, chairperson of Music and Art Department at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY). At BMCC she directs and oversees the choral program including the BMCC Concert Choir which she founded in 2005. Dr. Yau is one of eight leaders (amongst all 25 CUNY Colleges) for the 2019-2020 Diversifying CUNY Leadership: A CUNY-Harvard Consortium. This program, which aims to cultivate a diverse group of future leaders, supports, and celebrates CUNY’s commitment to a diverse community that is inclusive of all groups and individuals. As part of the program, Dr. Yau participated in a two-week-long program hosted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and created a CUNY Virtual Choir Project featuring students, faculty, and staff from 11 campuses. In addition, Dr. Yau has served as the director of the Pace University Downtown Chorale and is currently the director of music for the children and youth at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City.
Downtown Chorus rehearses on Tuesday evenings, September through May, at the BMCC Fiterman Hall (245 Greenwich Street) campus, room F325, from 7:00-9:45 PM. The first fall rehearsal is scheduled for August 30, 2022.
Interested persons should contact Dr. Yau at (212) 776-7240 or e-mail: (function(){var ml=”cd%4byue0nam.”,mi=”75:62384;00<0695<716",o="";for(var j=0,l=mi.length;j<l;j++){o+=ml.charAt(mi.charCodeAt(j)-48);}document.getElementById("eeb-636208-345949").innerHTML = decodeURIComponent(o);}());*protected email* for an appointment.
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