Bang on a Can

presents

Brooklyn Youth Chorus

Saturday, May 2, 2026

BRIC Stoop
647 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY

This performance is part of Bang on a Can's LONG PLAY FESTIVAL April 30-May 3 featuring 70+ concerts in Downtown Brooklyn.

More info about Long Play at longplayfestival.org
More info about Bang on a Can at bangonacan.org

Program Order

ALEV LENZ

Truth is told, not fed

  • From the Composer
    Truth is our center, truth is central - a shared civic reality holds the social body together and without truth, it will not hold. So how do we sing about truth? How do we call out into the world the importance of truth? How do we call in truth? We share. We connect. We connect to wisdom, and not just knowledge. We engage. We expand our hearts and we listen. Truth is told, not fed.

A Space Exploration with No Suit

  • From the Composer
    Our current real life attempts of space exploration seem not too unsimilar to colonization, following the logic of domination of yet another world and I wondered if a woman would do it differently as our imaginative being, a male human in my tale. Arriving at a yes I wondered why. And why it is that is women can build worlds within their prescribed, confined roles, grow worlds rather than colonize and dominate them. And what happens if we do not follow a logic of domination. This brought me right back to earth.The female with her feet in the dirt, considered a lower being in the patriarchal system. What is a space exploration on earth? I wanted to craft a very simple song with a simple chord structure to visualize something plain and simple: even simple things are dangerous for some on this earth, you do not have to fly into space.

CAROLINE SHAW

so quietly

  • From the Composer
    “so quietly” is an unfolding and an amplification of the voices of individuals who do not feel empowered to speak up, to contribute to a conversation, to perhaps point out an injustice or offer a solution. It could be a tendency to swallow words or backtrack when voicing an idea or opinion in a meeting, or a broader discomfort with engaging politically in society. This piece begins with text that is blurred, muted, and unsure of itself, eventually transforming into something focused, bright, strong, and joyfully outspoken.

Its Motion Keeps

  • From the Composer
    “Its Motion Keeps” is based on the words from the first verse of the American shape note hymn “Kingwood,” found in The Southern Harmony (1835) and other early 19th century hymn books. (Very likely it is a text that immigrated from England.) It begins with a palindromic viola pizzicato line that gestures to the continuo lines of Henry Purcell, to whom Britten wrote several homages. The choir echoes this contour at first and soon splits into swift canonic figures like those found in “This Little Babe” from Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, eventually expanding into the “swirling spheres” above string arpeggiations in a texture that recalls the vivace movement of his second string quartet (one of his homages to Purcell). The ecstatic double choir section evokes the antiphonal sound of the early English choral tradition, with harmonies overlapping overhead in the reverberant stone cathedrals, creating brief dissonances while one sound decays as the next begins. The last line, “Time, like the tide, its motion keeps; Still I must launch through endless deeps,” is just one of those perfect, beautiful lyrics — resilient and bittersweet.

ALEKSANDRA VREBALOV

in atlantis (World Premiere)

  • From the Composer
    “in atlantis” emerges out of a simple question: what happens to love when the ground that once carried it is no longer stable? The text of the piece is derived from climate data—melting glaciers, rising tides, sinking coastlines—naming fragments of physical processes and vulnerable cities including our own neighborhoods in New York City. It is an environmental observation that gradually becomes an inner geography - in our modern Atlantis, ecological transformation and emotional loss are inseparable

    • Text:
      glaciers melting
      high tides
      swallowing coasts
      ‍ ‍new york city, manila, shanghai, miami, mumbai, bangkok, jakarta
      ground sinking
      islands gone
      love lost
      ‍ ‍lower east side, east harlem, red hook, coney island, the south brooklyn
      in atlantis

Brooklyn Youth Chorus Concert Ensemble

Gretta Adams
Ridley Apthorpe
Emily Avram
Lydia Bach
Eloise Baker-Robbins
Layla Bannister
Safira Berrada-Riggs
Sofia Rossa Bologna Gitti
Simone Braunstein-Coulston
Lily Brown
Mae Burke
Maggie Callahan
Evelyn Cribbs
Greta Currah
Zadia Danon
Zelda de Zayas
Kai Don
Laïa Dorais
Zoe Drubetskoy
Matilda Endres
Arianne Fahie
Laila Gilabert
Charlotte Golden
Tessa Goldwasser
Talia Greenland
Kendall Hollmon
Victoria Johnson
Dottie Keener Schrager
Vivian Kravet
Nirmala Ladang
Gertrude Lipkin
Chloe Malafis
Melina Mays
Lucy Nadoban
Maahika Nair
Ariana Negron
Raphaela Newman
Sylvie Oates
Hanah Park
Jadesola Pedro
Gail Peña
Robin Phillips
Chloe Puliga
Savannah Savas
Niko Sembo
Ivy Snow
Bee Sollors
Eve van den Brulle
Arlo Zidell

Instrumentalists

Aleeza Meir, Piano
Johnna Wu, Violin
Rita Wang, Violin
Stephanie Griffin, Viola
Clare Monfredo, Cello

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BROOKLYN YOUTH CHORUS is a Grammy Award-winning ensemble, led by Founder & Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker, recognized for stretching the artistic boundaries of youth chorus for over three decades. Our choristers perform on the world's most renowned stages, including three appearances at Carnegie Hall in a single season, Madison Square Garden with Joe Hisaishi, and the United Nations. We regularly collaborate with an impressive range of organizations and artists, such as the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (with Gustavo Dudamel), The National, Wye Oak, Bon Iver, Sir Elton John, and Davóne Tines. As a bold commissioner of new music, the Chorus has introduced more than 140 original works and world premieres by contemporary composers like Pulitzer Prize-winners Caroline Shaw, Tania León, David Lang, and visionary Philip Glass. The Chorus has a strong reputation as a producer of original works, including the impactful Silent Voices series and Black Mountain Songs. In May 2025, the Chorus premiered Port(al)—a new, evening-length, site-specific choral theater work co-created by Dianne Berkun Menaker, Paola Prestini, Jad Abumrad, and Jessica Grindstaff—which transformed the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard into a vibrant canvas for immersive storytelling. Founded in 1992, Brooklyn Youth Chorus has reached over 10,000 students, serving 600 students each year in its after-school and public-school programs.

Dianne Berkun Menaker is the Founder & Artistic Director of the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Under her visionary leadership for 34 seasons, the Chorus has become one of the most highly regarded ensembles in the country, continually stretching the artistic boundaries for the youth chorus. Hailed by The New York Times as "a remarkable choral conductor," Ms. Berkun Menaker 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. She has prepared choruses for acclaimed conductors including Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, and Gustavo Dudamel, and has collaborated with an impressive range of organizations and artists including the Kronos Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, David Byrne, The National, Barbra Streisand, Arcade Fire, and Bon Iver. Ms. Berkun Menaker has also developed an active commissioning program, born out of a desire to showcase the Chorus's versatility, resulting in more than 140 original works and world premieres by contemporary composers, including Pulitzer Prize-winners Caroline Shaw, Tania León, and David Lang, as well as collaborations with Nico Muhly and Bryce Dessner. In May 2025, she notably conceived of and co-created Port(al), a landmark new, evening-length, site-specific choral theater work based on the history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which transformed the Agger Fish Building into an immersive experience. This followed her work on original choral/theater productions for the stage, including the inclusive, social justice-oriented Silent Voices series, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2019, and Black Mountain Songs. 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 and sequential music literacy. Cross-Choral Training® is now available as a digital course produced by Anthony Roth Costanzo. As a recognized choral clinician, she has presented workshops for organizations like the New York Philharmonic and The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and was recognized by the American Academy of Teachers of Singing with their 2023 AATS Award for outstanding achievements in the field.

Alev Lenz is a singer, composer, songwriter, and producer whose music defies conventional categorization, merging sophisticated pop with ethereal vocal landscapes. With an artistic vision that extends into visual art, she brings a unique, boundary-pushing perspective to every project. Her solo discography includes Storytelling Piano Playing Fräulein (2009), Two-Headed Girl (2017), and 3 (2019), showcasing her instinct for piercing lyrics and intricate harmonies. She reached a breakthrough audience by composing ‘Fall Into Me’ for the critically acclaimed series Black Mirror (Netflix). Her 2026 album, 4 in a Cycle Of Thirds, continues her exploration of minimalism, with each of its 11 tracks anchored to a different note of the chromatic scale. Lenz’s compositions are widely sought after, leading to collaborations with Grammy-winning ensembles like Roomful of Teeth and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, where she served as a composer-in-residence for the 2023/24 season. Her work has graced prestigious stages including London’s Barbican Centre and the UN. In film and theater, she has composed scores for Im Nachtlicht and productions at London’s Almeida Theatre. She frequently contributes vocals to scores by Oscar-winning composer Volker Bertelmann (Conclave, The Old Guard) and has collaborated with artists like Anoushka Shankar. A passionate advocate for new talent, Lenz founded the REcompose Competition and frequently speaks at institutions including NYU and Berklee.
Lenz is a multi-time Grammy nominee, recognized for her contributions to projects including Love Letters (2020) and Land of Gold (2016).

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, four Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Nas, Kanye West, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, with whom she has enjoyed a long-standing creative partnership. Her collaborations with the Chorus include the commission and performance of her work Its Motion Keeps and her significant contributions to the ensemble's expansive Black Mountain Songs project. Recent tv/film/stage scoring projects include “Leonardo Da Vinci” (Ken Burns/PBS), “Julie Keeps Quiet” (Leonardo Van Dijl), “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), “The Sky Is Everywhere” (Josephine Decker/A24), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), “The Crucible” (Lyndsey Turner/National Theatre), “Partita” (Justin Peck/NYC Ballet), “Moby Dick” (Wu Tsang), and “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust). Current touring projects include shows with Sō Percussion, Ringdown, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Graveyards & Gardens, Gabriel Kahane, and Kamus Quartet. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.

Aleksandra Vrebalov, recipient of the 2024 Grawemeyer Music Award, is a composer whose work brings different musical worlds into close, living contact. Her more than one hundred works, spanning concert music, opera, dance, and film, explore themes of identity and human connection. Her work draws on influences from regions where she has lived and worked, including the Balkans, the United States, China, and the Middle East. This synthesis is experiential, grounded in long-term creative processes and collaborations. Among these, her decades-long work with the Kronos Quartet stands as a defining relationship, resulting in twenty works that have expanded the expressive possibilities of the string quartet. Vrebalov’s music has been commissioned and performed by institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the English National Ballet, Glimmerglass Opera, Cleveland Opera, and The Forbidden City Orchestra in Beijing. Her work has been described as “refreshingly unneurotic” (The New York Times), “a strange and sober beauty” (The Times, UK), and “chilling and beautifully structured” (The Guardian). Working across a wide range of cultural contexts, Vrebalov writes for both Western and non-Western instruments. Her scores, in both standard and open notation, often integrate archival recordings and the sounds of ethnic instruments into contemporary forms. Vrebalov is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and a recipient of awards recognizing her contribution to national culture. Invited by composer Sahba Aminikia, she has also taken part in making music with refugee youth at the Flying Carpet Festival on the Turkish–Syrian border. There are more than twenty recordings of Vrebalov’s music released internationally, including on Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, Albany Records, and New Amsterdam. Her scores are distributed by Composers Edition in London.

SUPPORT

Brooklyn Youth Chorus is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Special funding is provided by Councilmembers Shahana Hanif and Lincoln Restler. Our programs are also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. 

We offer a very special thanks to our community of supporters. Your generosity has given thousands of young people access to skills-based voice training, inspiring performance opportunities, and a dedicated, tight-knit community of artists, mentors, and friends. Your support has contributed to our ongoing legacy of excellence: artistically, educationally, socially, and emotionally. We salute your kindness, dedication, and steadfast belief in our mission and thank you for your support. 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Jessica Holloway, Chair
Kara Hailey, Vice Chair
Jordane Rollin, Treasurer
Kathleen Emberger, Secretary

Jacqueline Aguanno 
Lauren Ashcraft
Kristi Avram
Katherine Bartholomaus
Sabina Chatterjee
Summer Craig
Tracy Garrison-Feinberg
Young Hah
Nancy James
Anna McNeil
Sam Nana-Sinkam
Rebecca Ringle Kamarei
Jonathan Rouner
Johari Jenkins Taylor
Blake Zidell

Trustees Emeriti
Judy Berkun (in memoriam)
J. Barclay Collins II
Charlie J. Hamm
Narcissa Titman
Dick Yancey (in memoriam)        

Trustee Ex Officio
Dianne Berkun Menaker, Founder & Artistic Director

Artistic Advisory Board
John Adams
Deidre Chadwick
Rufus Collins
Anthony Roth Costanzo
Julian Crouch
Bryce Dessner
Jeremy Geffen
Andrew Hamingson
Hilda Harris
Jim Keller
Beth Morrison
Paola Prestini
R. Douglas Sheldon
Ted Sperling
Theodore Wiprud
Michelle Yagoda, M.D.

Staff

Dianne Berkun Menaker, Artistic Director & Conductor

Megan Lemley, Executive Director

Angela Batchelor, Training Divisions Program Manager

Marjory Bruno, Registrar & Finance Associate

Elspeth Collard, Chorus Manager, Concert Ensemble

Liz Geisewite, Director of Choral Education

Meghana Goli, Development Assistant

Julie Griffith, Director of Development

Kyle Henning, Director of Program Operations

Ona Linna-Hipp, Chorus Manager, Junior Ensemble & Bass Ensemble

Jared Mathis, Development and Special Events Manager

Ryan Pointer, Director of Marketing and Communications

Duncan Sutherland, Director of Production & Audio

Travis Horton, Bookkeeping Consultant

Bryony Romer, Institutional Fundraising Consultant

Cynthia Marie, Central Source, Finance Consultant

Conductors
Dianne Berkun Menaker, Jaquetta Bustion, Liz Geisewite, Raquel Acevedo Klein, Kayla Schwartz, Scott Semanski, Jameelah Taylor, Amandla Turner, Kristen Von Bargen, Katie Willey, and Kiena Williams 

Pianists
Rachel DeVore Fogarty, David Lancelle, Elizabeth Leddy, Aleeza Meir, and Kyu Park 

Electives & Private Lesson Faculty
Sebastian Armendariz, William Evans, Raquel Acevedo Klein, Francesca Lionetta, Christine Reimer, and Elizabeth Sarian

Program Assistants
Karen Gonzalez, Chiemeka Offor, and Sarah Sotomayor 

START THEIR MUSICAL JOURNEY AT BROOKLYN YOUTH CHORUS

Since 1992, the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus has redefined what a youth ensemble can achieve. Our choristers don’t just perform; they take the stage at world-renowned venues like Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden, collaborating with icons ranging from Sir Elton John and Gustavo Dudamel to the New York Philharmonic. Whether commissioning visionary new music or creating immersive, site-specific theater, we offer our students a transformative artistic home that pushes boundaries and inspires excellence.

2026-27 SEASON PLACEMENT AUDITIONS ARE NOW OPEN

We invite singers (ages 5–18) to join us this September for world-class vocal training and unforgettable performance opportunities.