Meridian Singers

 

Art Anger began singing with a Cambridgechurch choir in 1959. With a three-year exception, he worked at MIT from 1965to 2004, ending in customer support in Information Systems.

 

Dick AnthonyisAssociate Director of Communications in Resource Development, specializing inscience and technology. Since his introduction to choral music as a quaveringsoprano in fifth grade, Dick has sung in a wide range of amateur vocalensembles.

 

CynthiaBloomquist arrived at MIT in 1966 as a freshman and hasn't left yet.Currently Senior Associate Director of the Office of Corporate Relations, herwork is mainly with companies in the energy industry. She also serves as theliaison between OCR and the MIT Energy Initiative. The Meridian Singers hasbeen her only formal singing experience.

 

Sally DeFazio is arecently retired immunologist, with an MIT affiliation through her husband, analumnus. She fell in love with choral music when she learned in elementaryschool that it was possible for ordinary people to sing in harmony. She hassung for nearly 30 years with the MIT Women's Chorale and enjoys trying to playclassical piano.

 

Sue Delaney works in the Department ofUrban Studies and Planning at MIT. A member of Meridian Singers since February2008, Sue has a strong interest in early music, which she sings informally withfriends and in Schola Nocturna at the Episcopal Parish ofthe Messiah in Newton.

 

Kim Hunter, an alumna of MIT, is an Associate Director ofUndergraduate Admissions. After working in the needlework industry for manyyears she came to MIT in the fall of 2007 as a staff member. As anundergraduate student she performed with the Chorallaries of MIT. Kim has sungwith a variety of groups including the Great Waters Music Festival Chorus, theClearlakes Chorale, The New Hampshire Music Festival and was a founding memberof New England Vocal Arts. She joined the Meridian Singers in the fall of 2008.

 

MichaelJones is amusic teacher who sings in various groups, and loves performing early music. Heis a member of the St. Dunstans Episcopal Church Choir in Dover,Night Song, and Patschwork,an adult Orff ensemble made up of fellow music teachers who perform for publicschools and for student festivals. Michael is also the musical director for thecommunity theater group, the Dover Foundation, which will be performing Damn Yankees this spring. Michaeljoined the Meridian Singers in the fall of 2008.

 

Jeff Keller is a softwareengineer, an MIT alumnus, and a folk dancer of various stripes who joined theMeridian Singers in the fall of 2008. Despite brief choral stints in highschool and college, he is more accustomed to singing sea chanteys and drinkingsongs and is still somewhat bemused by the notion of planned harmony.

 

Carla Lane was the Meridians otherMIT Resource Development associate director of communications before shejoyfully retired several years ago. She began her singing career at age 7 asone of Emile de Becques children in South Pacific, landing the role primarilybecause she was the shortest person in camp who could carry a tune. Since then,she has sung in numerous small groups and choruses, including many years withthe Porter Square Musica Antiqua. 

 

Ann Lawthers earliest memories of singing are in the car, on family roadtrips.  An alumnus of "thatother school down the street," she sings with several groups and is alwayslooking for opporutnities to sing with others, especially early music.  Ann works at UMass Medical School.

 

Susan Lester retired from MIT in August 2008 following a44-year administrative career at MIT, most recently as Associate Secretary ofthe Corporation. She sang in the MIT Choral Society from 1964 to 1990 underconductors Klaus Liepmann and John Oliver, and with the Meridian Singers andthe Parish Adult Choir at SaintPaul Churchin Harvard Squaresince 1997. In March 1999, she sang with and helped chaperone the MIT ChamberChorus during its concert tour to Budapest and Viennawith its director Bill Cutter.

 

StephenPepper hasbeen singing in choral groups almost continuously since age 8, in a greatvariety of settings, as a soprano, alto, bass, and tenor--in that order. He isa Meridian newbie, having joined in September2008. When not singing, he staffs MIT's Committee on Academic Performance,working with students, faculty advisors, and administrators, and advises fourfreshmen. In Boston since 1972, he has lived inBack Bay, Fenway, Dorchester, Somerville, Cambridge,and for the last nine years in Jamaica Plain. He is the proud father of a21-year-old senior at BrynMawr College.

 

Kate Schenck is an Administrative StaffAssistant in the Ombuds Office in the Office of the President. Kate currentlyperforms with A Joyful Noyse, an early music ensemble in Lexington,and with the Oriana Consort, a chamber choir based in Cambridge.She has been an ensemblist and soloist with several area groups including theChoir of the Church of the Advent, Capella Alamire, Longy Chamber Singers, andMaster Singers.

 

NancyStaufferis a science writer at the MIT Energy Initiative. She sang with the MIT ChoralSociety under John Oliver from 1972 to 1988. She now sings with the NewtonChoral Society and with the choir at St. Mary's Church in NewtonLower Falls.

 

RichardTarranthas taught Classics at Harvard since 1982 and is currently Pope Professor ofLatin. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Parish Adult Choir at SaintPaul Church in Cambridge,where he sings with fellow-Meridian member Sue Lester.

 

Katherine Ware began working at MIT in 1988, and is theSenior Fiscal Officer for the Plasma Science and FusionCenter.  She singswith the St. Michael's Episcopal Choir in Milton. She attended the early music weeks at Dartington International Summer School in2006 and 2008, and regularly attends the Country Dance and Song Society'sprogram at Pinewoods Camp each summer.

 

ArielWeinbergis the assistant to the curator of science and technology at the MITMuseum. She also singswith various shapenote groups in the Bostonarea and plays underappreciated free-reed instruments.

 

Dave Wilson is an emeritus professorof mechanical engineering and is now working full-time in an MIT-startupcompany. He sang in the MIT Choral Society under Klaus Liepmann when he arrivedfrom Britainon a post-doc in 1955 and in the Christmas Revels a few times since then.

 

 

FORMERMEMBERS

 

Melinda Cerny (alto) has been singingsince the age of 5 (children's church choir) and has never looked back.Although most comfortable nestled in the alto section, she has directed an acappella adult church choir and currently directs a children's church choir.Melinda most enjoys working with the children because they're game for anythingand fearless in singing out. She has worked at MIT for over 25 years and iscurrently the Assistant Director of Education in the Chemistry Department.

 

David Bono (tenor) is an electricalengineer and has been the Manager of the MIT Department of Materials Scienceand Engineerings Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory since it started in 2003. Davidhas been a Research Scientist at MIT as well as an inventor and entrepreneurbefore coming to MIT. David has sung tenor with various amateur groups in the Bostonarea since 1974. He has also sung with the Tallis Scholars in three concerts inEnglandas part of a choir workshop.

 

Luca Daniel (tenor) is an associateprofessor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science atMIT. Luca joined the Meridian Singers as a tenor in 2004, enthusiasticallyreturning to singing after a prolonged absence since he moved to the U.S.from Italyin 1994. Luca currently sings with Seraphim Singers, the MIT Chamber Chorus,Schola Nocturna and the Night Songs group. Other hobbies include competitiveLatin-American ballroom dancing and windsurfing.

 

Laura Doughty (founder and formerdirector) has worked at MIT since 1982. In 1993 she began her current job asAdministrative Assistant to Institute Professor Mildred Dresselhaus. Laura is aclassically-trained mezzo-soprano who teaches voice and regularly performs inchamber groups and in recital. She founded the vocal octet Cantabile and sangwith them from 2001-2005. Laura has directed Meridian Singers from February2000 to December 2006.

 

Elina Guralnik (soprano).

 

John Nesby (bass) aproduct enablement business analyst with IBMs Distributive Software Division,has been singing with the Meridian Singers since spring 2007. He also singswith Musicium Convivium, Vox Lucens, Schola Nocturna, and the Harvard-EpworthUnited Methodist Church Choir.

 

Gretchen Slemmons works as theAdministrative Assistant to Professor Stewart Myers in the MIT Sloan School ofManagement. Her musical career began on the campus coffee house circuit, whereshe sang and played the guitar. Gretchen studied classical piano with Donna GrossJavel for many years.

 

Keiko Tanaka (alto) started working atMIT in 2002 and joined the Meridian Singers in January 2003. Besides singing,she loves playing the piano. This past September, she participated in a pianoprogram with 12 other people and had an opportunity to play a duet and toperform a solo piece.

 

AndrewWatchorn (former director).

 

 

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For questions, comments, or toupdate this page (e.g. to add a link to a personal website of a member) pleasewrite to: luca@mit.edu.

Last Updated Jan2009