Get to know some of our Outstanding chorus members.
These remarkable choristers have seen the chorus change and adapt through the years and we celebrate their commitment to musical excellence!
Jerry Richman
member since 1970
Bass
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53 years! Jerry (Gerald W.) Richman joined Collegiate Chorale in 1970 and even now, in 2023, he is usually the first person in the room waiting for rehearsal to start. Jerry was inspired to audition for The Collegiate Chorale by his Bronx High School of Science choral conductor, Alice Lawner, herself a singer with the group. He recalls that his first performance was with Abraham Kaplan conducting the Beethoven Mass in C Minor.
Jerry is currently the Director of Finance with the CUNY NYC College of Technology and has been working in the CUNY system for over 39 years including positions at York College and the Bronx Community College. For the past 40 years, he has also served as Conductor for the “Balmy Zephers’ – a vocal chamber group in New York City.
Jerry’s clear favorite concert with our chorus was Verdi’s, Nabucco, conducted by Robert Bass. “I knew while I was singing it, it was the best choral performance I had ever sung in.” He has traveled with MasterVoices on multiple trips to the Verbier Festival as well as two trips to Israel and the Salzburg Festival. Jerry says that he is “grateful for the life experience that The Collegiate Chorale and MasterVoices has afforded me.”
Hannah Livant
Member since 2020
Alto
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Singer/songwriter, classically trained pianist, and high seas adventurer Hannah Livant joined MasterVoices in 2020. Hannah feels joining the chorus during Myths and Hymns was “meant to be” as it was a “perfect combination” of her interests in mythology and the intersection of literature and music which she studied at Bard, where former Collegiate Choral music director James Bagwell had been her advisor! The song cycle was also a wonderful project to work on with fellow MasterVoices alto, Eileen Richter, who also happens to be her Mom. Post-lockdown, Hannah has loved singing with the chorus in person, particularly performing at Carnegie Hall for the first (and second) time. She was particularly thrilled to perform in the recent Lord of the Rings concert.
By day, the multi-talented Hannah, who is a certified Able Bodied Seaman, can be found composing original music, singing sea shanties, and working at the South Street Seaport Museum as a sailing educator.
Helen Shin
Member since 1991
Tenor
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A graduate of Harvard and the University of California Berkeley Law School, Helen began her career in corporate law. She has since joined a firm that provides legal services to high-net-worth clients, negotiating their needs in managing family wealth.
Although Helen was singing in a church choir and taking piano lessons when she was young, as a self-described “Star Trek nerd” in high school, she also explored the “world beyond.” She attended the immersive program sponsored by Summer Science Program (“SSP”), a not-for-profit group that provides promising high school seniors with a seven-week program focusing on teamwork projects in astronomy, astrophysics, molecular biology, and genomics. Three decades later, Helen now serves on the Board of SSP which has expanded its program to serve over 250 students each year.
Helen is the Tenor Section Leader and has participated in almost all MasterVoices trips abroad. While she sang as an alto in the Harvard Radcliff Collegium Musicum, she now relishes the “ringing, pinging, star of the world” moments that the tenors often enjoy. Helen’s MasterVoices experience has been one of “fantastic fellowship and splendid singing.”
Angela Milner
Member since 2000
Soprano
Dedicate a gift in honor of Angela
Music has always been a part of Angela’s life. Her mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and Angela sang professionally with her mother’s choir from the time she was eight years old. This early exposure to music earned her a full scholarship that led to a degree in education and music from Hofstra University. Angela recalls singing the Brahms Requiem in Verbier, Switzerland, as her “most memorable experience” with the chorus.
While raising two children, Angela taught nursery school and a course in Creativity at Suffolk Community College. Her late husband of fifty-five years, Carl, always encouraged Angela to explore her artistic side which she pursued for many years at her Brooklyn studio. Working in a medium known as encaustic painting (combining warm beeswax, varnish and pigment), Angela has had multiple exhibits of her work – including solo shows- and was favorably reviewed by the NY Times. In 2003, she collaborated with her singer/songwriter sister Laura Wetzler, and produced a concert and art exhibit at Merkin Hall entitled “Kabbalah Music: Songs of the Jewish Mystics.” Her “ Sephirot, “ created for that show, now hangs in the main foyer of Stephen Wise Synagogue in Manhattan.
“Exploring new things in life is important” Angela notes, stressing that “Music can get you through some very difficult moments in life.” Angela treasures the friendships she has made in the chorus and shares her passion for music and art with her six grandchildren.