Choral Chameleon

_No stranger to all forms of the arts, Brooklyn-based singer and painter Erika Lloyd is most widely known as the lead songstress for indie rock band, Little Grey Girlfriend.  This sweet soprano can also be found performing with the Renaissance quartet, The Good Pennyworths , as a cantor and choir leader of various church choirs, and as a piano and voice teacher for The Piano School of New York and Ivy Studios.  A classically trained artist with a Bachelors of Voice Performance Early Music from Indiana University, Lloyd loves applying her classical training to her rock, folk, and pop performing.  Her work in cross-genre performance and composition led to the world-renowned ensemble performing Erika’s song, “Cells Planets” (from Little Grey Girlfriend’s second album of the same name) on its 2010-2011 Out of This World Concert Tour (arr. Vince Peterson).  Her range in character, style and creativity ensures that Erika Lloyd will remain a staple in the music world for years to come.

_Mi Na Shin, currently an undergraduate student, is majoring in vocal performance at CUNY Brooklyn College. Her current teacher is Richard Barrett. She had previously studied with Monica Harte. Through grade, middle, and high school, she has always been involved in a choir. In addition, she has been playing the piano and violin since grade school. She is very thankful to be a part of a truly talented and special group.

_Julie sang harmony for the first time in seventh grade girls choir and experienced something mysterious and powerful;  she had found her calling and has been joyfully pursuing a life filled with choral music ever since.  She attended Western Washington University in Bellingham Washington, under the direction of Leslie Guelker-Cone, where she served as choir president and obtained her bachelor’s degree in Choral Music Education.  In 2008 she made the adventurous move to NYC from Washington state and joined Choral Chameleon the following January.  She taught elementary general music for the non-profit organization Education Through Music and is currently finishing up a graduate Music Teacher Certification program at Brooklyn College.

_Evan is thrilled to be singing with the talented members of Choral Chameleon. An enthusiast of opera and musical theater as well as choral music, he has played supporting roles in Susan Stoderl’s The Veil of Forgetfulness, Christian McLeer’s House, and Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, as well as singing in concert with the Bel Canto Institute in Florence. As a chorister, Evan has performed in the world premiere of Christian McLeer's Requiem with the Remarkable Theater Brigade, and in Bach’s B-Minor Mass with the Musica Bella Orchestra. In 2008, he toured with the Beijing Olympics Festival Chorus, performing at cultural festivals in Beijing and Shanghai. In addition, he has performed as a soloist in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Handel’s Messiah and has sung in numerous opera choruses, including Carmen (Bizet) and The Cunning Little Vixen (Janacek). Evan is a recent M.M. graduate of the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, where he was a student of Monica Harte. He currently studies keyboard skills and choral conducting with Vince Peterson and serves as the singer-manager of Choral Chameleon, as well as maintaining a private voice teaching practice in Brooklyn.

_After family/friends, food and fine wine, Jackie’s next three loves are music, ministry and medicine. In addition to Chameleon she is a music director of The Ignatian Schola (www.ignatianschola.com), a Manhattan-based vocal ensemble, music minister at the Church of St. Francis Xavier, and sings in a variety of musical settings both secular and sacred in NYC. True to Chameleon form, Jackie also works as the Health Care Director of the New York Jesuits and practices internal medicine part-time providing primary care to the under-served and homeless.  "There is the Music of Heaven in all things and we have forgotten how to hear it until we sing" ~ St. Hildegard of Bingen

Originally from metropolitan Detroit, Matthew is a student at Brooklyn Law School. In
2009, Matthew received his BA from the University of Michigan. During that time he was
a member of multiple performance groups, including the University Choir, the Men’s Glee
Club, and performed in a production of the musical Parade. He studied vocal performance
with Eugene Branstrom. Matthew enjoys all genres of choral music and is elated to be performing with Vince Peterson and the talented members of Choral Chameleon.

Jamey Grisham, tenor, is beyond thrilled to be singing with Choral Chameleon! A recent transplant to NYC, Jamey is an actor/musician with a proficiency in Jane Austen and a penchant for collecting vintage bow ties. Recent theatre work includes the following--The Barn Theatre (Resident Acting Company Member): Artie Green, Sunset Boulevard (Starring Kim Zimmer); Prince Christopher, R&H's Cinderella; Fred Casely, Chicago; Anselmo, Man of La Mancha (Starring Robert Newman); Trinity Repertory Com- pany: Mordred, Camelot; Valentine/Musical Director, Twelfth Night; Lyric Opera of Chicago: Guillot, Eugene Onegin (starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky); The Barber of Seville (starring Nathan Gunn); Chicago Humanities Festival: Harold Arlen, Songs of Our Time (starring Andrea Marcovicci); Brown/Trinity Rep: Eugene Gant,Look Homeward, Angel; Valene Connor, The Lonesome West; Suzy, The Hot L Baltimore; Sky, Vieux Carré; Crook-Fingered Jake, The Threepenny Opera. As a dancer and choreographer, Jamey has apprenticed and performed at The Joffrey Ballet School, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Lou Conte Dance Chicago, Alabama Ballet, Workhorse Theatre Ensemble, and Trinity Repertory Company as well as serving as the Resident Choreographer at his beloved Barn Theatre. He also just completed the World Premiere of the dance piece Of Human Bondage with choreography by Danny Mefford (Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson) and music by Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party). Training: Roosevelt University (BFA), Brown University (MFA, Stephen Sondheim Fellow).

Michael Gullo, tenor, is a rising star in contemporary and jazz vocal music. At an early age Michael felt a powerful attraction to jazz music and continued studying at Seattle’s Roosevelt High School, one of the top jazz schools in the country. His musicianship and fresh interpretations of jazz standards like “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and “Body and Soul” won him the “Best Male Vocalist” award at theLionel Hampton Jazz Festival two years in a row; in 2008, he was one of four male vocalists in the country to be selected to perform in the exclusive Gibson/ Baldwin Grammy Vocal Jazz Ensemble, where he was a featured Vocalist and Vocal Percussionist. As a scholarship student at the University of Miami’s prestigious Frost School of Music, Michael had the opportunity in 2010 to work with legendary producer, Phil Ramone (Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, John Legend) when cast as a young Sinatra in his new musical “Lanza.” He graduated May 2011, cum laude with a degree in Jazz Voice and Studio Music.

Baritone Brian Mummert, a native of Old Lyme, Connecticut, is thrilled to be singing his first season with Choral Chameleon! Brian holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Music from Yale University, where favorite roles included the title role in Dido and Aeneas at the Institute of Sacred Music, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief with Opera Theater of Yale College, and Apollo in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. While at Yale, he also served as the musical director of the Whiffenpoofs for their ’08-’09 Centennial year and as a cantor and associate conductor of the Choir of Christ Church New Haven. Brian appeared as a soloist last season season at Marble Collegiate Church, where he is also a permanent member of the Sanctuary Choir, with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and in the world premiere of Georgi Andreev’s oratorio, A Melancholy Beauty, at Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center, and can be heard on the recordings of The Presidential Rounds under Judith Clurman in collaboration with NPR. He currently studies with Lielle Berman.

Joseph Bellino, Bass-Baritone
Joseph C. Bellino has been a proud member of Choral Chameleon since it's humble beginnings.  Joseph hales from eastern Long Island and is currently pursuing a career as an actor/singer.  Some of his previous roles include:  J. Pierre Pont Finch in 'How to Succeed..', Judge Turpin in Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd' & Rapunzel's Prince in 'Into the Woods'.  Joseph is enjoying the heck out of changing the face of choral music with his exceedingly talented Choral Chameleon compatriots.  

Mark Johnson has sung in a cappella ensembles of every size and many musical styles. He has worked with Toby Twining, as music director, producer, and singer for Chrysalid Requiem (1999–2002) and Eurydice (2008–11); and with the Western Wind, as arranger, recording producer, and ensemble coach at their workshops. This led to work with Hiroko Juni, with Studio Arsis and Tokyo Voices in Japan in the 1990s. Mark sings at Marble Collegiate Church under the direction of Ken Dake, where he does a good deal of piano tuning and music copying & editing. He appears on Bobby McFerrin’s latest album,VOCAbuLarieS, arranged & directed by Roger Treece.