Laurence C. Boylan, Esq., Chair

Mr. Boylan started studying music at the age of 7. He began with piano, moved on to the flute, and then focused on singing. Starting out, he sang in his church choir and his high school choir. In college, he sang in both the glee club and the gospel choir. For the past five years, he has sung with the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC. Within GMCW, he sings in their chamber choir, the Rock Creek Singers, and serves on their marketing committee. Currently, he is the manager of a Pro Se Family Law Clinic in the Baltimore City Circuit Court, through the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau. He also contracts with the firm Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer LLP, in their Antitrust Department. He was a double major in Art History and English at the University of Rochester, where he received his B.A. He earned his J.D. at the Northeastern University School of Law, and is currently a member of the Bar of the State of Maryland.

Gailyn Gwin, Vice-Chair

Gailyn Gwin, a graduate of the University of Maryland, has been involved in music, arts management, and arts broadcasting for many years. She is in her 40th year as Music Director at Oaklands Presbyterian Church in Laurel, Maryland, a singer with The Washington Chorus for 34 years, conductor and singer with The Outreach Chorus of The Washington Chorus, and conductor of The Collington Singers at a life care retirement community. She is the Arts Reporter for CTV Channel 76 with weekly news reports and also a monthly program "Arts About the County." Ms Gwin has been Executive Director of the Prince George's County Media and Film Office and Manager and President of the Board of the Prince George's Philharmonic, involved with the management of individual artists, and Special Events Coordinator for the National Symphony Orchestra.

Rob Driggers, Treasurer

Rob Driggers has been involved with music, in some form, most of his life. He began at age six in an elementary school production of Annie, before moving on to roles in Fiddler on the Roof and Oklahoma. In middle school, he turned his attention to rock & roll music, performing in bands throughout his high school experience, while playing local venues in his native Charleston, South Carolina. Music took a backseat to education in college and upon moving to Washington DC in 2002, he rekindled his love of performing music by joining the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC. A first tenor with the chorus, as well as its chamber ensemble, The Rock Creek Singers, he has served as a Vice President with the full chorus, and currently serves as Business Manager for The Rock Creek Singers. Professionally, Mr. Driggers is a Financial Analyst for a Government Subcontractor specializing in HR, IT and Security administration. He joined the NYCMC Board during its 2007-2008 season.

Skip Teel, Secretary

Skip Teel first felt the thrill of performing when he was eight years old, as a member of the chorus in a children's production of Big River. Since then, he has had the pleasure of performing in a wide variety of musicals as diverse as L'il Abner, West Side Story, A Chorus Line, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman. In high school, Mr. Teel fell in love with choral music as a member of chamber and madrigal choral ensembles, and was able to perform in gorgeous venues from Mexico to Italy. Mr. Teel earned a B.A. in music from New York University, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College at Columbia.

A baritone in the NYMC since 2007, Mr. Teel is proud and honored to be a part of such a talented and dedicated group of musicians.

Leslie Ann Lopez

Leslie Ann Lopez is a founding member of the New York City Master Chorale. She is no stranger to the New York singing scene. Ms. Lopez is involved with the Empire Opera educational outreach program beginning in September. She has sung in church choirs for the last twenty years and is currently a soloist at the Larchmont Avenue Church in Larchmont, NY. Also, she is a music teacher at a NYC high school. Ms. Lopez thanks her two children, Stephen and Rebecca, for being her most important audience for so long.

Julie Rulyak

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Julie Rulyak is a 2003 graduate of NYU's Program in Vocal Performance, where she studied with Dr. Jeanne Goffi and, most recently, Professor Dianna Heldman. Favorite roles include Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Sally in Barber's A Hand of Bridge, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

Professionally, Ms. Rulyak has served as Turtle Bay Music School's Development and Marketing Manager since 2005. Prior to working with TBMS, she acted as Managing Director of Cynthia Glacken Associates, a leader in not-for-profit communications strategy and design. A strong proponent of community music-making, Ms. Rulyak developed curricula for a Community Music Education Master's Degree Program at New York University while pursuing internships with Third Street Music School Settlement and the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.

Ms. Rulyak holds a B.M., summa cum laude, and M.A. from New York University's Steinhardt School for Culture, Education and Human Development.

Nancy Strohmeyer

Nancy Strohmeyer began studying piano at the age of 5, and added flute studies at the age of 10. In high school, Ms. Strohmeyer began voice instruction, and attended Ithaca College’s School of Music where she majored in voice. Ms. Strohmeyer is an alumna of Seagle Music Colony, the summer young artist program, and now serves on its Board of Directors. Ms. Strohmeyer has sung in choruses throughout the metropolitan New York City area and has performed as a concert and recital soloist. Currently, Ms. Strohmeyer is the mezzo-soprano soloist at Church of the Master in Harlem and St. Margaret of Cortona Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx. She studies voice with Dr. Lynda Elliott in New York City.

Ms. Strohmeyer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University, and she earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. In her career as an attorney, Ms. Strohmeyer has worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s office, and is currently employed as a prosecutor in the New York State Department of Health. She lives with her husband, Warren Harr, and their two daughters in the Bronx.

Ms. Strohmeyer is proud to be a founding singer with the New York City Master Chorale. She is grateful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Thea Kano and the fabulous musicians in the Chorale.

Marion S. Wise

While a student at UCLA, Marion Wise was fortunate to have the opportunity to perform under the direction of both Dr. Kano and Donald Neuen. After graduating in 2004, she moved to New York City as a member of Teach For America, which brings recent college graduates into low-income classrooms in an effort to close the education achievement gap. Ms. Wise taught middle school English for two years and earned a Masters in Teaching. She recently received her Masters of Social Work from New York University and currently works for Children’s Aid Society in the mental health clinic of a middle school in the Bronx.

Ms. Wise has been singing with the New York City Master Chorale since its inauguration. She also serves as Personnel Manager and Administrative Assistant for the organization.

Marnie Andrews, Advisory

Marnie Andrews has a wide-ranging career as actor, director, singer, writer, and teacher. In recent years, she has starred in several world premieres of new plays. She served for several years on the board of the National Repertory Theatre Foundation, which awarded yearly grants for new plays.

Ms. Andrews guest-starred in numerous TV series and movies of the week, including “E.R,” “Murder One,” “Jag” and “Wonder Years,” and worked for two years with Mark Harmon and Marlee Matlin on “Reasonable Doubts.” She’s performed in regional theatres in such diverse roles as Guenevere in “Camelot” and George in “The Killing of Sister George. Much of her work focuses on premieres of new plays.

As a writer, Ms. Andrews was awarded the Berrilla Kerr Playwrights grant based on her one woman show, “Singer.” She has presented her poetry in forums on both coasts, and is reading in Woodstock, NY this spring. She has written articles for the publications Natural History, Modern Maturity, Amica (Italian), Backstage West, and the American Association of Cancer Research.

Ms. Andrews also directed Steven Wolfson’s adaptation of “Trojan Women,” which was chosen for an international theatre audience at the Getty Museum in LA. She conceived and dramaturged a piece called “View from the Hudson” which was awarded a Geraldine Dodge Foundation grant for the NJ Randy James Dance Works. Marnie has taught for NYU and USC Graduate Film Schools. At NYU, she directed “Three Sisters,” and “A Piece of My Heart.”

Debbie Farson, Advisory

Debbie Farson is the owner of Home Solutions Connection, Inc., a referral business that connects homeowners in Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland to licensed, highly-skilled home improvement contractors.

Ms. Farson obtained her B.A. in English from Arizona State University in 1986, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1989, and is a member of the Virginia and D.C. bars. She practiced law with the Virginia office of D.C.-based Jordan Coyne and Savits LLP before having children. She stayed home full time with her children until she started Home Solutions Connection in 2001.

Ms. Farson studied piano beginning at the age of 6, also studied voice in high school, and participated in choruses as a singer and accompanist through college. Ms. Farson also directs the children's choirs at her church.

Stephanie Germeraad, Advisory

Stephanie Germeraad is a public affairs executive who brings over 10 years of nonprofit leadership experience to NYCMC. She has served as both a board member and board staff for a variety of entertainment, philanthropic and issue advocacy projects, including the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. Her work with nonprofits has garnered the Crystal Award of Excellence from the National Communicator Awards, the PRism Award of Excellence from the Public Relations Society of America, and the PRo Award from the Public Communicators of Los Angeles.

Ms. Germeraad is a graduate of the Greater Los Angeles Board Fellows Program, and completed a board internship with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Over the past decade, she has been active in a variety of arts, community and civic organizations in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Dallas. Ms. Germeraad earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication.

Sandy Lee, Advisory

Sandy Lee has been studying piano since the age of eight and has extensive experience in both performing and teaching. Mrs. Lee has performed both solo and chamber music repertoire, and has taught the piano for over twenty years. She is the former director of a private music school in Los Angeles, and has previously provided administrative support as an intern for the concert programming department at the Carnegie Hall. Mrs. Lee earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA in piano performance, and is currently pursuing her Masters of Arts in Music Education from Teachers College Columbia University, NY.

Sean Robinson, Advisory

Dr. Sean Robinson is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Argosy University in Washington, DC. His primary teaching areas include leadership development, organizational theory and behavior, research methods, and higher education administration. Dr. Robinson has over 15 years experience on university and college campuses, in a multitude of roles in both the Student Affairs and Academic Affairs arenas.

In addition to his teaching, Dr. Robinson maintains two private ventures. The first is a private coaching and consulting practice, which focuses on organizational development, strategic planning, human resource initiatives, and developing leaders as coaches. His clients are primarily entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and colleges/universities. His second business is a health & wellness company located in DC.

When he is not teaching or seeing clients, Dr. Robinson can be found rehearsing or performing with both the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington (GMCW), and Rock Creek Singers, an auditioned small ensemble within GMCW. Dr. Robinson has been involved in music, dance, and theatre since the age of 11. At age 14, he was awarded a full scholarship to study dance with the Virginia Ballet Company. While in graduate school, Dr. Robinson began studying both Modern and Ballroom Dance and within three years was on the national competition circuit, often placing in the top three in ballroom, Latin, and theatre arts/interpretive dance categories. He has performed with several large choruses over the past 20 years and his musical travels have allowed him to perform at numerous venues in the US including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Boston Symphony Hall, and in several venues in Canada and Europe.

Greg Takayama, Advisory

Bio to come

Ken Williamson, Advisory

Ken Williamson began studying music and theatre at the age of five. At the age of 15 he was accepted into the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts. Mr. Williamson later went on to study at Centenary College School of Music.

To date, Mr. Williamson has directed more than 30 musical productions and performed in over 75 musical productions with companies such as The Houston Symphony, The Walt Disney Company, Sid and Marty Krofft Productions, Alley Theatre, Stages Repertory Theatre, Harbour Playhouse and The MGM Grand Hotel.

He has served on the Board of Directors for non-profit organizations for over 20 years and currently serves as a consultant for non-profit organizations throughout the country.

Morten Lauridsen, Honorary

Music by Morten Lauridsen occupies a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire of the Twentieth-Century. His seven major vocal cycles--Les Chansons des Roses (Rilke), Mid-Winter Songs (Graves), Cuatro Canciones (Lorca), A Winter Come (Moss), Madrigali: Six “Firesongs” on Renaissance Italian Poems, Nocturnes (Rilke, Neruda and Agee) and Lux Aeterna--and his series of sacred a cappella motets (O Magnum Mysterium, Ave Maria, O Nata Lux and Ubi Caritas et Amor) are featured regularly in concert by distinguished ensembles throughout the world. O Magnum Mysterium, O Nata Lux (from Lux Aeterna) and Dirait-on (from Les Chansons des Roses) have become the all-time best selling choral octavos distributed by Theodore Presser, in business since 1783.

The recent book, Choral Music in the Twentieth Century by Nick Strimple, describes Lauridsen as “the only American composer in history who can be called a mystic (whose) probing, serene work contains an elusive and indefinable ingredient which leaves the impression that all the questions have been answered...From 1993 Lauridsen’s music rapidly increased in international popularity, and by century’s end he had eclipsed Randall Thompson as the most frequently performed American choral composer.”

His works have been recorded on over a hundred CDs, three of which have received Grammy nominations, including O Magnum Mysterium by the New York-based ensemble, Tiffany Consort, led by Nicholas White, and two all-Lauridsen discs entitled Lux Aeterna by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Paul Salamunovich (RCM) and Polyphony with the Brtitten Sinfonia conducted by Stephen Layton (Hyperion). His most recent commissions have been from Harvard University, the San Francisco Bay Brass and the Raymond Brock Memorial Commission for the American Choral Directors Association’s 2005 national convention in Los Angeles. A sixth all-Lauridsen CD, Nocturnes and Rose Songs, will be released in 2006 on the Hyperion label. His principal publishers are Peermusic (New York/Hamburg) and Peer’s affiliate, Faber Music (London).

Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943) served as Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1995-2001 and has been Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for the past thirty-five years. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he worked as a Forest Service fire-fighter and lookout (on an isolated tower near Mt. St. Helens) before traveling south to study composition with Halsey Stevens and Ingolf Dahl. Mr. Lauridsen now divides his time between Los Angeles and his summer cabin on a remote island off the northern coast of Washington State. Further information regarding Mr. Lauridsen may be found at mortenlauridsen.com.

Donald Neuen, Honorary

Donald Neuen, conductor and artistic director, has defined the artistic vision and performance standards of the Angeles Chorale since 1995. We're proud to have the leadership and dedication to excellence of this internationally-acclaimed director, who has been referred to as “...the great choral conductor of his generation” by musicologist Julius Herford.

In additon, as Distinguished Professor and Director of Choral Activities at UCLA, Don Neuen heads one of the most respected graduate choral conducting programs in the U.S. Prior to UCLA, he served for twelve years in the same position at the Eastman School of Music.

Hailed by Don Hinshaw as “the driving force of choral music education in America,” Neuen also conducts the Crystal Cathedral Choir at the landmark Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA, and appears weekly on their internationally-televised "Hour of Power" broadcast.

A student and protégé of Robert Shaw, Neuen went to Atlanta in 1970 at Shaw’s request to create the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and to serve as Assistant Conductor and Director of Choral Activities for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Neuen has made it his personal mission to build on the standards of excellence set by Shaw.

Neuen has served on the faculties of the universities of Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ball State, and Georgia State University. In addition, he has conducted orchestras from around the world, and has led conducting clinics in Europe, Asia, Mexico, Canada, and nearly every state in the United States.

Paul Salamunovich, Honorary

Paul Salamunovich has been called an American Choral Treasure. His career of some sixty-six years has been marked by the highest achievements in professional, educational and liturgical music. At seventy-seven he is as busy as ever having conducted in the past year the Angeles Chorale, the Ventura Master Chorale, numerous clinics and workshops around the country and at Carnegie Hall. In November of 2003 he led the St. Petersburg Philharmonic of Russia along with the Master Chorale of the United States in the Mozart Requiem at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome in the concluding concert of the International Festival of Sacred Music and Art.

He began his choral life as a boy soprano at the age of ten and continued, from the age of fourteen, under the baton of Roger Wagner. In 1949 he became Director of Music at St. Charles Borromeo in North Hollywood and is there to this day. Under his direction the St. Charles Choir has risen to preeminence among American church choirs. In 1988 they became the only American choir ever invited to sing at the Mass for the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul with Pope John Paul II presiding in St. Peter's Square in Rome. They also performed for the Pope in a private audience in Clementine Hall of the Vatican Palace in 1985 and in 1987 at St. Vibiana's Cathedral for the official welcome of the Pontiff to the City of Los Angeles. For his contributions to sacred music, Pope Paul VI honored Salamunovich with a Papal Knighthood in the Order of St. Gregory. Under Paul's direction the choir appeared with Henry Mancini and Doc Severinson in the NBC Christmas Eve Special and also recorded for numerous motion picture and television soundtracks including True Confessions, Flatliners, Cirque de Soleil's Journey of Man and ER.

As an educator, Salamunovich was a member of the music faculty at Mount St. Mary's College for eighteen years and for twenty-seven years at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where he was awarded Professor Emeritus status in 1993. He also holds two honorary doctorates from Loyola Marymount University and the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. He has conducted clinics and festivals throughout the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, South America, Europe, Australia and the Far East. He also conducted at an unprecedented four consecutive American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Biennial National Conventions: with the LMU Men's Chorus in 1987, their Women's Chorus in 1989, the St. Charles Borromeo Choir in 1991 and the LA Master Chorale in 1993. In 2000 the Western Division recognized Paul with its Lifetime Achievement Award. In February of 2003 Paul again brought the St. Charles Choir to the National Convention in New York where they gave back to back performances of Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna to a combined audience of more than 5,000 choral directors in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Salamunovich has been responsible for choral music in more than a hundred feature films and television productions for such studios as Columbia, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Disney including First Knight, Air Force One, Steven Spielberg's A.I., Sum of All Fears, Sony's XXX and Universal's Peter Pan.

In April of 2001 Paul Salamunovich was named Music Director Emeritus of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, capping his ten-year term as its Director and marking the culmination of a lifetime association with both the Chorale and its founder, Roger Wagner. Salamunovich was a charter member of the organization and was, for twenty-four years, Assistant Conductor of both the Roger Wagner and LA Master Chorales. During his tenure as Music Director the LA Master Chorale recorded three CDs: Christmas, Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna and Argento-Duruflé. The Lux Aeterna, composed for and dedicated to Paul remains a top-seller. It received a Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance and has greatly impacted the field of choral music in the United States and overseas. January 23rd, 2005 marks his first guest appearance with the Chorale as Music Director Emeritus at the Disney Concert Hall. Having been booked well into the next year he shows no sign of slowing down.

Thea Kano, ex officio