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. 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.

Sydney Anderson is a soprano, music educator, and Interdisciplinary arts producer. As an opera singer, she has been praised for her “stunning vocal fireworks,” and “authentic stage presence.” A contemporary music enthusiast, Sydney has participated in numerous World Premieres and workshops, most recently featured with Portland Opera, at National Sawdust with Beth Morrison Projects, and as Snow/Child on the World Premiere recording of The Selfish Giant (Assad/Palmer) with American Lyric Theater. Last season, Sydney recorded two albums with chamber vocal ensemble, 4th Wall NYC, and served as Associate Producer and Choral Conductor on the GRAMMY-nominated album, Impossible Dream by Aaron Lazar. She has created the roles of Winnie in Two Corners (Boykin/Lee) with Finger Lakes Opera, Dalinda in Being Ariodante (Dawe) with Ensemble Échappé, and ONE, in it is a comfort to know (Gartman/Bywaters), and sang the role of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg with Opera in the Heights. Sydney was named an Eastern District Winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and won the Audience Favorite Award at the Region Finals. During the pandemic, she founded The Why Collective, which produces and supports contemporary performance art projects with the primary mission of encouraging collaborative and spontaneous creation across multiple artistic disciplines, leading with voice as the primary instrument. Their durational launch project, Vexations in Time, was performed in Anita’s Way (Times Square) in 2021, they held an Off-Broadway residency at Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre (Chelsea) in 2023, and had their Lincoln Center debut in May 2024. Sydney holds a double Bachelors degree from the University of Hartford (BM/BME) where she studied under renowned early childhood music pedagogue, Dr. John Feierabend, and a Masters in Vocal Performance from the University of Houston. www.SydneyAndersonSoprano.com / www.thewhycollective.art

Jack Beal is a musician, producer, and educator based in New York City and Boston.  Jack's activities in music range from the traditional to the experimental. An ardent collaborative artist, Jack's work regularly calls upon the shared talents of fellow musicians, dancers, theatermakers, scientists, and more, from whom Jack has earned a reputation as a sensitive collaborator with an authentic approach to performance practices of all kinds.

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) is the pianist for Brooklyn Youth Chorus’s Concert Ensemble and Junior Ensemble. Raised as a homeschooler, she pursued her musical studies independently with two beloved mentors: fortepianist Malcolm Bilson and composer Steven Stucky. Accomplished on piano, organ, and harpsichord, Aleeza began her career as a staff pianist at the Ithaca College School of Music at the age of 16. She has since appeared with artists and groups including the Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir, Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, Bob Chilcott, Edward Carroll, Harolyn Blackwell, Kronos Quartet, Jan Opalach, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and the New England Symphonic Ensemble, in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, to National Sawdust, to St. Olaf’s Church in Balestrand, Norway. She has also performed in the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, and North America, in a wide variety of venues and capacities ranging from concerto soloist to continuo player. She placed second in the International Piano Masterclass of Bechyne festival competition and was a prizewinner in the Otto B. Schoepfle national organ competition. Ms. Meir previously served as pianist for the Boys Choir of Harlem and spent ten years as keyboardist for John Rutter in New York City. Besides her position at Brooklyn Youth Chorus, she is faculty pianist for the Allen-Stevenson School, pianist for Middlebury Language Schools’ German for Singers program, music director for historic Old First Reformed Church in Brooklyn, and founder and artistic director of Baroquelyn.

A native to Northern New Jersey, Dana Nix is a versatile musician and educator. She received her Bachelor of Music from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, with a double concentration in Flute Performance and Music Education. She then attended New York University’s Steinhardt School where she received her Master of Music in Flute Performance. Dana has studied under Kaoru Hinata, Keith Underwood, Yoobin Son, and Kathleen Nester. Dana maintains an active private studio and continues to perform as a freelance musician. Students of Dana's have gone on to successfully audition for regional bands and orchestras throughout NJ. She has had th pleasure of performing for POTUS Barack Obama, and in masterclasses for Lina Chesis, Mimi Stillman, Robert Winn, Valerie Coleman, and Keith Underwood. When not performing or teaching, Dana enjoys spending time with her husband, two kids, cat, and dog at their home in Mendham, NJ!

Born in Caracas Venezuela, and based in New York since 1995, Neil Ochoa has been in the music scene for over 30 years. As a professional musician, drummer/Percussionist he had toured and or recorded with the likes of Ricky Martin, David Byrne, Scott McMicken (Dr. Dog), Grammy award-winning bands Los Aterciopelados, Los Amigos Invisibles. Venezuelan legend, singer/songwriter Yordano and guitarist virtuoso Aquiles Baez among others. For ten years Neil was the percussionist for the New York-based sextet Si*Se, under the label Luaka Bop recorded three albums and toured extensively. As well part of the sextet Chicha Libre a Brooklyn-based cumbia band, inspired in the 60’s and 70’s Peru’s psychedelic Chicha sounds of the Amazons. Neil and long time friend/bandmate, José Luis Pardo partnered to create Cutuprá Studios, a basement space in the East Village, NYC where for over 17 years they have been constantly recording and producing not only the music of their own projects (Los Crema Paraiso and Locobeach) but other artists/band’s albums including Yordano, Rawayana, Nella Rojas. As well as an array of jingles for commercials, and music for TV shows like, “The Get Down” (Netflix), and “El Vato” (NBC Universo). For more than 25 years Neil has been in the educational field and has developed a solid curriculum working with students of all ages. Leading an array of workshops, percussion classes, and ensembles in public schools throughout the NYC area. In 2017 Neil earned a TAC (teaching artist certificate in responsive pedagogy) at Teacher’s College Columbia University.

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.

Elizabeth Pupo-Walker is of Cuban descent and based out of NYC. She studied in Havana, Cuba at Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba, and in Matanzas, Cuba with the world-renowned percussion ensemble Los Munequitos de Matanzas. Elizabeth works within the Daptone Records family in Brooklyn in various groups, also having performed on tour with the late Sharon Jones and the Dapkings. She shares composer credits on recent album releases by Daptone’s Cochemea and La Buya, and has performed and/or recorded with many artists, including John Legend, The Michael Leonhart Orchestra, Dave Grohl, Beck, Mark Ronson, Christina Aguilera, The Roots, Nels Cline, Femi Kuti, Sinead O'Connor, Michael Bublé, Digable Planets, and members of R.E.M., and Pearl Jam, to name a few. Her film soundtrack and score work includes Netflix, HBO, and Disney, and she has also performed on Colbert, Fallon, Corden and Conan. Elizabeth has had the honor of performing multiple times at Carnegie Hall, and in the house band at the Kennedy Center for the Mark Twain awards.

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