Music

It was when I was around 10 years old when I took a liking to classical music. The culprit was a tape of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik and a Divertimento performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan. However, a few years back, I and my brother had recorded over parts of the Divertimento. I regretted that action very much.

To make a long story short, my dad started buying me classical music tapes. It became a monthly ritual for us. We also acquired a CD player, but we bought fewer CDs because they were more expensive.

My parents started pushing my music interest right after I finished elementary school. I started violin lessons in 7th grade, and piano lessons in 8th. I did both until I finished high school.

I took a liking to opera right around the 1990 World Cup. Luciano Pavarotti was on TV singing Nessun dorma, the theme song for that World Cup. Well, it's partly genetic also. My dad's family had been interested in classical music and opera. Soon after I showed this interest, my dad gave me a program for the performance of Parsifal that he attended in the Vienna State Opera in 1982. It was mostly in German, but I was fascinated anyway. So as part of the shopping spree for classical music recordings, we also bought Pavarotti and other opera singers' tapes, mostly selection of arias. I developed a habit of singing along to the recordings when playing them. And in 1995, as part of my family's vacation to Europe, my dad and I attended a performance of Simon Boccanegra in the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.

In the 11th grade, I was forced to join my high school's choir, Gita Bahana, by the choir coordinator. It was part of an effort to prepare a delegation to a well-renowned national choral festival. Looking back, I don't regret at the coercion at all. I enjoyed singing in the choir a lot, and the choir members formed a strong friendship that still lasts even now. And the long time of preparation for the festival was not for nothing; the choir won the 3rd prize in the high school choir category in the festival.

Soon after, it was time for me to depart for New York City to continue my study at Columbia University. After I got there, I looked for opportunities to sing in choirs. I became a regular in the choir at the Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM), first under David Schofield, and then under Chris Mueller. I also auditioned for a group called Collegium Musicum, but I got rejected. Last but not least, although I wasn't particularly looking to get voice lessons, I saw fliers about audition for voice lesson opportunities at Barnard College. I said to myself: "What the hell, it won't hurt!", and decided to audition after all. Since my solo repertoire at that time was minimal (practically none!), I decided to sing the bass part of one of the songs that I sang with Gita Bahana for the festival mentioned above. So when it was my turn, in I went with the part memorized, and I sang it unaccompanied, since I didn't have the music for it. Well, the judges saw some potential in my voice, and the rest is history, history being that I enrolled in Jane McMahan's class, Vocal Repertoire and Technique, and subsequently had voice lessons with her every semester but one throughout my college years.

In my senior year, I became acquainted with Nathan Davis. He was helping out with the CCM choir. The acquaintance led to his invitation for me to become one of the first members of the Young New Yorkers' Chorus (YNYC), a group he was forming then. I performed in YNYC's first concert in spring 2001, but unfortunately, I had to discontinue my participation in that promising group since I was graduating and had planned to move to California. Looking at the state of the group now, I believe I would have enjoyed it so much had I been singing with them these last few years.

So I moved to California, the South Bay (Area), and again I looked for opportunities to sing in a choir. I would say NYC is heaven if you enjoy listening and performing choral music, so many groups around, and so many performances. But California wasn't bad. I decided to audition to join the Santa Clara Chorale. The barrier for entry was not very high, so I was accepted. I sang with them for a couple of years. It was my first exposure to community choirs. Interesting, I would say, you had to pay in order to be a member. I also tried to reunite with David Schofield and sing with his group in San Francisco. But the commute for rehearsals was just too much (about an hour plus rush hour traffic), so that didn't materialize.

After two years in California and its beautiful weather and landscape, I moved to Pittsburgh to do my PhD. Even before I got to Pittsburgh, I had already looked for opportunities to perform in a choir. The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh stood out. At a glance, it's like other community choirs in that the members are mostly volunteers, but there is a small group of professional members. Two huge draws are Robert Page and the Pittsburgh Symphony. To make a long story short, I auditioned, got accepted, and have been singing with the choir ever since. I learn a lot from Bob Page. It's indeed a bargain to get voice lesson from him for around $155 a year (the annual due for volunteer members). For list of upcoming performances, check the front page.

Besides the Mendelssohn Choir, I am also occasionally asked to help out in some choirs. And just in case you're wondering, I'm a bass-baritone.