Brooklyn Youth Chorus Alumni Profiles
Melanie Charles (at BYC from 1995-2003) is a Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter, actress, and flutist of Haitian descent with creative fluidity spanning jazz, soul, experimental, and Haitian roots music. Charles grew up singing in church, trained as an opera singer, and attended the prestigious LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts as a flute major. She is a 2010 Vocal Jazz Performance graduate of The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, and has trained under the tutelage of jazz masters Reggie Workman, Bobby Sanabria, Junior Mance, Janet Lawson, Carla Cook, and Billy Harper. Charles has performed at world renowned venues, both as a leader and a sideman, in New York (Jazz at Lincoln Center; Blue Note; Smalls; Nublu), Italy (Blue Note, Milan), Japan (Billboard Live), France (Duc de Lombards, Paris), England (Ronnie Scott’s), Poland (12on14; Harris Piano Jazz Bar), Germany, and Russia. She has worked with artists such as Laura Izibor (Atlantic Records), Nicola Conte (with Jose James and Gregory Porter), underground hip-hop legend Jean Grae, SZA, and Jussie Smollet of Fox’s EMPIRE, with appearances on Good Morning America and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In April 2017, Charles collaborated with the Gorillaz on their latest album, "Humanz.” Charles has served as a Brooklyn Youth Chorus mentor for our College and Career Readiness Initiative.
Maya Chatterjee (at BYC from 2016-2023) joined BYC in 2014 at the Pre-teen Level. She moved up quickly and was in the Concert Ensemble for 5 years. She performed the National Anthem during 9/11 Memorial 21st Anniversary Commemoration at WTC in New York on September 11, 2022. She graduated from Saint Ann’s in the spring of 2023, and took a gap year in rural India volunteering with a healthcare NGO before she began Yale University in 2024 with a focus in pre-med. She says, “BYC has endowed me with an unparalleled breadth of vocal and professional experience as I enter college. It has also been our most treasured space for magic-making and wonder. It is where we may each find a sense of belonging. It is my second home, the best parts of my week, and the organization to which I owe the deepest thanks. And most of all, I know that it is and forever will be my found family. And for that I am supremely grateful.”
Senlee Dieme (at BYC from 2014-2022), a rising junior at Yale, is a member of the Yale Glee Club, and recently was appointed Musical Director for the singing group Shades of Yale, which sings music of the Black Diaspora and African American tradition. She is studying the history of science medicine and public health, and is the youngest board member of a diversity in classical music initiative called The New Muses Project. Senlee was one of our original Van Lier Scholarship Fellows. She says, “Inspired by my 8 years in the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, I joined the Yale Glee Club my first week at Yale, and I have gone on two domestic tours with them. I am also in an acapella group called Shades of Yale, a group dedicated to singing music of the black diaspora and African American tradition. I have toured with them to the Bahamas as well as Brazil, where I served as tour manager. I was recently appointed as the musical director for the group, which I know would not have been possible without the incredible music education that I received from the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and especially through the Van Lier Fellowship. I am by far the youngest board member of a diversity in classical music initiative called The New Muses Project. Otherwise, I am getting my certificate in French after having studied abroad last summer, and I am hoping to next semester apply for a BA/MPH program where I would receive both degrees by my 5th year at the university. In my mind my musical passions have always been connected to my interests in public health so I always intend on implementing both into my life. The mentorship and college counseling offered to me through the Van Lier Fellowship taught me that both are possible for my future.”
Ekela Dixon (at BYC from 1997-2004) is an artist career developer and manager, and the CEO of a mindie (major label-backed indie) label. She is singer, songwriter & producer. She started her company The Voice Box with the intention of helping new singers sing better.
Emily Donato (at BYC from 2003-2012) Emily Donato, soprano from Brooklyn NY, was awarded first prize in the 2023 Handel Aria Competition, and was a member of the 2023 Virginia Best Adams Quartet at the Carmel Bach Festival. She made her Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium solo debut in May 2023 in Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Oratorio Society of New York conducted by Kent Tritle, has appeared as a soloist with Musica Sacra at St John the Divine, and Voices of Ascension led by Dennis Keene. In 2021, Ms. Donato was awarded first prize in the Lyndon-Woodside Oratorio Competition, and appeared as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass on Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415’s 2019 Scandinavian Tour. In 2019, she performed J.S. Bach Cantata 82A “Ich Habe Genug” with Masaaki Suzuki at the Japanese Ambassador’s Residence in NYC. Emily has worked with conductors David Hill, Nicholas McGegan, Simon Carrington and Leon Botstein. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Bard College and Master of Music from the Yale School of Music.
Raquel Klein (at BYC from 2002-2012) Described as a “force to be reckoned with” by the Washington Post, Raquel Acevedo Klein is an active conductor, vocalist, composer, and instrumentalist. Raquel has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Town Hall, Park Avenue Armory, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, WNYC, BAM, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Celebrate Brooklyn!, the Guggenheim, Rockefeller Center, National Sawdust, Caramoor, Bard Fisher Center and elsewhere. Raquel conducts for the New York Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Beth Morrison Projects among other projects. She has premiered works and operas by Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw, John Adams, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Bryce Dessner, and George Lewis to name a few. As a vocalist, she has recorded and performed with artists including Glen Hansard, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, The National, Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens, and New York Philharmonic among others. Raquel’s performances and curations have caught the attention of publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, Time Out New York, The Wire and Hyperallergic. In 2022, Raquel formed a trio with Caroline Shaw and Angélica Negrón and performed a new song cycle composed of voice, electronics, viola, accordion and more. As part of NY PopsUp, Raquel curated a four-week festival entitled NYC FREE, to celebrate the opening of Little Island in 2021. Raquel premiered an original, audience-interactive vocal symphony entitled “Polyphonic Interlace,” made from 40 recorded layers of her voice that audiences can play using their phones.
Ona Linna-Hipp (at BYC from 2010-2017) graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a BA in Art History, Criticism, and Conservation. She is currently a Program Assistant at Brooklyn Youth Chorus. She says, “My favorite performances were the symphonies that we sang with different orchestras. The music was always so beautiful and powerful, and to see a concert from the performers’ perspective was incredible. It made me feel like a real star. Since joining the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, I have done things that most kids and teenagers never get the chance to do. It gave me the chance to express my passion at the highest level, as well as develop my musicianship and vocal skills. Brooklyn Youth Chorus has let me step into the professional world and allowed me to be the performer I always dreamed of being.”
Anna McNeil (at BYC from 2007-2016), is a current BYC board member and active alum, who is an Associate in Real Estate at the Vistria Group. Prior to joining Vistria, Anna was an Associate in the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs. Anna graduated with Distinction from Yale College with a B.A. in History of Art. She is currently a member of the Brooklyn Treble Choir.
Sarah Sotomayor (at BYC from 2010-2017) graduated from Yale University in 2023 with a BA in Music and Neuroscience. She is a Performer, Composer, and Creator. She was a 2016 Michael Perelstein Discover Your Passion Scholar, which granted her endeavors in musical composition. She says, “Every second of Concert Ensemble is seared into my very being. These experiences completely shaped the person I am today. I learned how to be a leader, how to network, and how to develop art in both incredibly collaborative and singular ways. I've also learned how important each individual's role is within any group or ensemble. My childhood would definitely have been much more troubled and difficult. Music helped keep me on track in my neighborhood and being exposed to such opportunities gave me continuous inspiration to keep working toward my goals. I embark on the next part of my journey as an adult with a network of friends, collaborators, and mentors that a girl with my background could only have ever dreamed of having.”
Joan Varous (at BYC from 2012-2021) Joan has been in the Cornell University Chorus for three years. She has served as the Sales Manager, Vice President, and now the President of the entirely student run Cornell University Chorus. Outside of chorus, you can find her at the gym or studying in Weill Hall. She is majoring in Biomedical Engineering and is expected to graduate in Spring 2025.