Dianne Berkun Menaker
Founder & Artistic Director
DIANNE BERKUN MENAKER is the Founder & Artistic Director of Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Under her visionary leadership for 34 seasons, the Chorus has become one of the most highly regarded ensembles in the country and has stretched the artistic boundaries for the youth chorus.
Hailed by The New York Times as "a remarkable choral conductor," Ms. Berkun Menaker has prepared choruses for performances with acclaimed conductors including Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Reinbert de Leeuw, and Lorin Maazel. She has also collaborated with an impressive range of organizations and artists including the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Joe Hisaishi, The National, David Byrne, Wye Oak, Bon Iver, Shara Nova, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, Barbra Streisand, Arcade Fire, Sir Elton John, and Grizzly Bear. In 2002, she prepared the Chorus for its debut with the New York Philharmonic in John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, the recording for which the Chorus won a Grammy Award in 2005.
Ms. Berkun Menaker has also prepared the Chorus for recordings with The National, Blonde Redhead, Djo, Bon Iver, Fatoumata Diawara, Tyondai Braxton, Paola Prestini, Philip Glass, Wye Oak, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and Grizzly Bear.
She has developed an active commissioning program, born out of a desire to showcase the Chorus's versatility and uniquely beautiful sound and has collaborated with some of the most important composers of our time, resulting in more than 140 original works and world premieres by contemporary composers, including collaborations with Pulitzer Prize-winners Caroline Shaw, Tania León, David Lang, Nico Muhly, Angélica Negrón, Bryce Dessner, Paola Prestini, Nathalie Joachin, Paul Moravec, Toshi Reagon, Alev Lenz, Anna Clyne, Aleksandra Vrebalov, John King, and William Brittelle.
Ms. Berkun Menaker also has a strong reputation as an arts producer, having developed numerous original choral/theater productions for the stage. The most recent production, Silent Voices: Lovestate, premiered Off-Broadway at The New Victory Theater in 2019. Previous productions include the first two installments of the inclusive, social justice-oriented Silent Voices series (BAM 2017; National Sawdust 2018); Black Mountain Songs (BAM Next Wave Festival 2014); and Tell the Way (St. Ann’s Warehouse 2011). The Chorus has released two albums through New Amsterdam Records—Silent Voices (2018) and Black Mountain Songs (2017)—and has appeared at important contemporary music festivals.
In May 2025, Ms. Berkun Menaker notably conceived of and co-created Port(al), a new, evening-length, site-specific choral theater work. This ambitious project, based on the history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, transformed the Agger Fish Building into an immersive experience through song, movement, and storytelling. Port(al) garnered widespread critical acclaim for its innovative approach to bringing history and contemporary themes to life.
In July 2025, Ms. Berkun Menaker took our Grammy Award–winning Concert Ensemble to Japan to perform at the Tokyo Dome for Joe Hisaishi’s final Studio Ghibli Film Concert series, performing music from the iconic Studio Ghibli films for record-breaking crowds of over 120,000 over three concerts.
In 2022, Ms. Berkun Menaker served as Associate Music Producer for Euphoria by Julian Rosefeldt, commissioned by Park Avenue Armory and starring Cate Blanchett.
Ms. Berkun Menaker is a regular choral clinician and teaching artist for such organizations as the New York Philharmonic and The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall and has also presented workshops and master classes for New York University, New York State School Music Association, the American Choral Directors Association, and the New York City Department of Education. In 2023, she was recognized by the American Academy of Teachers of Singing with their 2023 AATS Award for outstanding achievements in the field.
She is the creator of Cross-Choral Training®, a proven holistic and experiential approach to developing singers in a group setting encompassing functional voice training pedagogy for healthy, authentic singing across a range of musical styles and music literacy and sight-singing approaches based on experiential and sequential learning. Cross-Choral Training is now available as a digital course produced by Anthony Roth Costanzo, in collaboration with his organization SCENE.