Spring Sings

About the Artists

DIANNE BERKUN MENAKER is the Founder & Artistic Director of Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Under her visionary leadership for 31 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, James Levine, Marin Alsop, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Reinbert de Leeuw, Valery Gergiev, and Lorin Maazel. In May, Dianne conducted Brooklyn Youth Chorus in the world premiere of Port(al), a new choral/theater production she conceived and co-created. 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, Bon Iver, Fatoumata Diawara, Tyondai Braxton, Paola Prestini, Philip Glass, Wye Oak, Cecile McLauren 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 120 original works and world premieres by contemporary composers, including collaborations with Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw, Tania Leon, David Lang, Nico Muhly, Angelica Negron, 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, with the most recent production, Silent Voices: Lovestate, premiering 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 including the Ecstatic Music Festival, MusicNOW, 21c Liederabend, Barbican Mountain and Waves Festival, and the PROTOTYPE Festival. This year, Ms. Berkun Menaker served as Associate Music Director for Euphoria by Julian Rosefeldt, commissioned by Park Avenue Armory and starring Cate Blanchet. 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.

Jaquetta Bustion found her voice as a choral singer while pursuing her Master’s degree in Music and Music Education at Columbia University; since then she has lent her voice to groups such as New Amsterdam Singers and Coral Cantigas. A pianist since childhood, Jaquetta is a multi-instrumentalist and performs as a singer with Accord Treble Choir. At Brown University, she earned degrees in Music and Comparative Literature, followed by a Master’s in Music and Music Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She began teaching in NYC public schools soon after, and has been a music educator for over thirty years teaching students from ages 4 to middle school, in both public and private schools, and community music schools. Jaquetta completed her Kodály levels at New York University and currently serves on the Kodály Organization of New York (KONY) board of directors. Jaquetta has been a presenter at the KONY Equity and Diversity Summit and a keynote speaker and presenter at Bank Street College of Education’s Teaching Kindergarten Conference. She has taught thousands of children the joy of making music, and currently develops curriculum and teaches at Community Roots Charter School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Oliver Barrett (trombone)

Sean Cameron (piano) is a pianist, conductor, and music educator out of Brooklyn. He attended the College Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati on full scholarship, earning dual degrees in Music Education and Performance. He has been appearing on stage with Michael R. Jackson as arranger and music director for many years, most recently at Lincoln Center’s LCT3. Sean has performed around the world, leading touring companies of A Chorus Line and Elf the Musical across the United States and Japan. He is also a proud friend and supporter of the National Asian Artists Project, and he has led their Broadway Community Chorus alongside Baayork Lee many times since first coming together in 2018. Off the stage, Sean is a dedicated and impassioned teacher, and he has been on the adjunct faculty at Marymount Manhattan College since 2019. He also serves as the music director, pianist, and organist for the Sayville United Church of Christ, the progressive voice of the South Shore.

Rachel DeVore Fogarty (piano) is a collaborative pianist and composer. In addition to her work at Brooklyn Youth Chorus, she also serves as accompanist/assistant artistic director to the Young New Yorkers' Chorus Women's Ensemble. Ms. DeVore Fogarty has accompanied master classes for Shirlee Emmons, Sharon Sweet, Cliff Jackson, Bob Kline, Michael Cassara, Jen Waldman, and Merri Sugarman as well as serving as rehearsal pianist for the national tours of the musicals Elf and Anything Goes. Her choral works have been performed by ensembles in the U.S. and internationally, including VocalEssence, St. Olaf's College, Oklahoma State University, the University of Kentucky, Baylor University, Hollins University, and the ACDA National High School Women's Honor Choir. She received her M.M. in Composition and B.M. in Piano from Belmont University in Nashville, TN.

Jason Handy (piano) is a collaborative pianist and educator based in New York City. Jason’s extensive experience as a collaborative pianist includes two summers as Assistant Pianist at the Breno Italy International Music Academy (BIIMA), where he played for singers and flutists from across the United States and Canada. Jason has performed alongside ensembles including the Momenta Quartet, Hub New Music, Binghamton Symphony Orchestra, and as concerto soloist with the Geneseo Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as pianist for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Jason is a past winner of the Geneseo Concerto Competition, Geneseo Honors Competition, NYSSMA All-State Piano Showcase, and the B-Sharp Musical Club’s Vivien Harvey Slater Award, and has been featured on WCNY’s Classic FM radio. As an educator, Jason has previously served on the faculty of the Arizona School for the Arts, and maintains an active private teaching studio. In addition to his teaching and performance career, he is the Director of Music Ministries at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Croton-on-Hudson, NY, where he administers the music program and directs the St. A’s Choir. Jason completed undergraduate studies in solo piano at SUNY Geneseo under Dr. Amy Stanley. He also spent formative time studying in Vienna, Austria, and is a fluent speaker of German. He completed his master’s degree in Collaborative Piano at Binghamton University under Dr. Joel Harder. 

David Lancelle (piano) is a composer/lyricist and alum of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. While at NYU, he studied under William Finn, Steven Lutvak, and Mel Marvin. His work has been performed in Chicago, Milwaukee, LA, and New York, and his musical, The Glass Girl—with book and lyrics by Marina Toft—was workshopped at NYU Tisch in 2018 and was a finalist in the New Voices Project with New Musicals Inc. & Disney Imagineering. In 2020 he was commissioned by Broward College to compose the music for a musical about America’s opioid crisis, entitled A Deadly Deception (Book & Lyrics by Mariah Reed). He is also an avid Tolkien fan, and has  musicalized all of the lyrics found in “The Lord of the Rings.” The album can be heard at davidlancelle.bandcamp.com

Elizabeth Leddy is a pianist, collaborative artist and educator based in New York City. Elizabeth performs with a diverse range of singers and instrumentalists, opera companies, chamber music groups, choirs and choral festivals. She works with singers from the Metropolitan Opera, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and NYC performing arts schools. She also frequently plays in musicals and with middle and high school choirs and choral festivals. For over a decade, Elizabeth has maintained a private studio of over 30 students, who consistently receive highest honors at state and local competitions and festivals and have been admitted to performing arts high schools. She is currently Executive Director of Little Chopins, an in-home music lessons agency, and teaches for Prime Piano Studio and the Anahid Syourapian Piano School. Elizabeth was formerly Chair of the Piano Department and Associate Master Teacher at The Music Academy of North Carolina, where she joined the piano faculty in 2014. Elizabeth is also a Musikgarten-certified early childhood music instructor and has taught infant and toddler music classes and group keyboard classes in private studios and classrooms. Elizabeth has performed in in the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, Chamber Musaic benefit concerts in North Carolina, the Liszt Bicentennial Keyboard Concert at Baylor University, the Texas All-State Choir Camp, multiple North Carolina All-County Choral Festivals, Danville Symphony and Fayetteville Symphony, as well as at North Carolina School of the Arts, Wake Forest University, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and Baylor University. Born in Texas, Elizabeth received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Baylor University and Master of Music in Piano Performance from University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She lives in Manhattan with her adorable cat, Jack.

Aleeza Meir (piano) From the greenhouse of a homeschooled childhood through intensive personal mentoring from acclaimed artists including Malcolm Bilson and Steven Stucky, Aleeza Meir is accomplished on piano, organ and harpsichord. She began her career as a staff pianist at the Ithaca College School of Music at the age of 16. Besides all the major concert halls of NYC, she has performed nationally and internationally in a wide variety of venues and capacities ranging from continuo player to concerto soloist. She placed second in the International Piano Festival competition in Bechyně (CZ) and the Otto B. Schoepfle national organ competition (USA). She served as pianist for the Boys Choir of Harlem, and has been John Rutter’s go-to keyboardist in NYC since arriving in 2002, performing in more than 50 concerts at Carnegie Hall. She is faculty pianist for Middlebury Language Schools’ professional ‘German for Singers’ program and music director for historic Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope. As pianist for BYC’s Concert and Junior Ensembles she regularly performs premieres of works of today’s leading composers, and appears in festivals including MusicNOW, Ecstatic Music Festival, Bang on a Can, and numerous broadcasts on WQXR. Aleeza is also the founder and director of Baroquelyn, a Brooklyn-based baroque chamber orchestra that marries historic performance practice with a fresh, modern, and local take on well-loved old music. Please visit www.baroquelyn.com.

Percussionist Riley Palmer can be heard throughout the New York musical scene from contemporary music halls, to Broadway pits, to jazz clubs, and back again. He frequently performs at The DiMenna Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 54 Below, Lincoln Center, and the Green Room 42. As part of the contemporary music scene, Riley has performed with the Orchestra of the League of Composers, Talujon Percussion, and has worked with many of today’s leading composers including Michael Gordon, Nicole Lizeé, Steve Reich, and Julia Wolfe. As an active collaborator with theatre and dance, Riley has served as an accompanist with Paul Taylor, Martha Graham, and Alvin Ailey dance programs.

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