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Shouting in Tune

With almost two decades of musical training, I started singing at the University of California, Irvine, in 2009. I managed to stay in only one singing group for all of two weeks before I gave in to my melodic desires and quickly joined as many groups as would take me. Soon I was in five singing ensembles across three major vocal styles and, although thoroughly exhausted, tremendously happy.

In 2009, I entered into the ICCA with UCI's The Circle of Fifths and made it all the way to semi-finals. In 2010, I traveled with the prestigious Alumni men's choir, UCI's Men in Blaque, to Shaoxing, China for the World Choir Olympics. We took home three gold medals and a championship trophy. Then, in 2013, we competed at the Yeosu International Choir Festival in Yeosu, South Korea. We won multiple awards, but most importantly had an absolute blast. The next year, MIB and two other choruses I was a part of traveled together to Bratislava, Slovakia and Budapest, Hungary for an international competition, and every one of my three choruses won gold medals, two earning the top place of their categories.

In 2014 I left California and made my way to New York, where I immediately auditioned for and was accepted into Chameleonic, a mixed ensemble dedicated to exploring new music and story telling in an SATB setting. During my time with Chameleonic, we performed as part of the onstage chorus for David Greig's The Events, we debuted the North American performance of Roxanna Panufnik's the Dance of Life (Tallinn Mass) and we supplemented performances of The Christians at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater, written by Lucas Hnath and directed by Les Waters. Early 2015 I was also hired at St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Brooklyn as the Bass Section Leader.

In 2016, I launched my ship into the turbulent seas of Barbershop chorus singing with the Voices of Gotham in Manhattan, New York, and soon after we placed tenth in the world at BHS International in Nashville, Tennessee. I auditioned for, and was hired at The Oratory Church of St. Boniface as a Bass Section Leader, and with the Manhattan Holiday Carolers, a New York-based professional caroling troupe.

In 2017 Voices of Gotham placed tenth in the world again at BHS International, that time in the brutal heat of Las Vegas, Nevada. I began picking up odd jobs as a session musician, and would fill in for quartets wherever needed. My work joyfully continued with both MHC and St Boniface, and in 2019 Voices of Gotham placed 14th in the world at BHS International in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

Since the 2020 COVID pandemic I took a step back from group singing, but have produced learning tracks, recorded classical choral singing for video games, and am still performing yearly with Manhattan Holiday Carolers each holiday season!

If you or a chorus you know need learning tracks, a low bass who can sight-sing or a friend to jam with, don't hesitate to reach out! 

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