2019 Holiday Greeting Card Features Performances by BMCC Concert Choir

December 5, 2019

The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) digital holiday greeting card has been arriving in thousands inboxes for over a decade. In 2019, the holiday greeting will feature a special musical performance by the BMCC Concert Choir and it’s certain to bring more attention to the talented students and faculty in the BMCC music department.

Formerly called the Select Chorus, the BMCC Concert Choir was founded in Fall 2017 after the official establishment of the college’s music major. There are 40 choir members who are mostly BMCC music majors that study and perform repertoire from the Renaissance to present day material as part of the program’s curriculum. The choir is led by BMCC Music and Art Professor and Department Chairperson Eugenia Oi Yan Yau.

Over the years, the choir often performed at the BMCC Honors Convocation ceremony as well as Commencement and at the CUNY Choral festivals at York College. The choir was featured at 2010 U.S. Open performance with Gloria Estefan and in 2012, performed at the 9/11 Memorial Recovery Workers ceremony.

In December 2018, the choir was contracted as the sole holiday performer at international retailer Uniqlo’s flagship location on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Excerpts of the performances were featured on social media and also the company’s website with more than 23 thousand views. BMCC’s Interim President Karrin E. Wilks saw the recordings and suggested the choir be featured as the holiday card in 2019.

Virtual Choir Project Debuts in 2020

The 2019 holiday greeting card features the chorus from the song Together Now, composed by music Professor Quentin Angus with lyrics by Natalie Dietz. A second recording includes an excerpt from Professor Can M. Olgun’s song We are Everywhere, with lyrics by Olgun and Suzzane Douglas. Both songs were written and composed for the upcoming Virtual Choir Project, set to debut in January 2020.  The Virtual Choir project is part of the Diversifying CUNY’s Leadership: A CUNY-Harvard consortium project.

“From vocal lines, lyric settings to harmonic progressions, choir members have contributed their own ideas every step of the way.  We are excited to introduce these songs to our BMCC community as holiday greetings,” said Yau.

She says choir members and faculty spent hours rehearsing and staging the songs before filming the greeting’s performance in the BMCC music department choral room at Fiterman Hall.

“Professor Yau thought it would be a great idea to use the chorus section of our songs which both have reasonably powerful or prominent lyrics and promote the type of holiday message we wanted to communicate,” said Angus.

Angus said the students enjoy performing for an audience either on the radio, at a retail store or in this case, showcasing their talents on the digital holiday greeting card.

“This is one of those examples where they were all dressed in cool holiday colors, and you can see their energy as they have a good time and communicate something meaningful to the world,” said Angus.

He says being a part of BMCC’s music department is exciting because of the diversity of his students and the flexibility faculty have in creating a program based on teaching them the necessary skill sets for a 21st century reality. He says the BMCC music department is working to give students both the things they are interested in, but also to help them with their careers.

Olgun, who was an adjunct professor before joining BMCC fulltime in fall 2019, says he works with students influenced by a variety of music genres, from gospel to classical.

“The sense of community within the music department is so strong,” said Olgun. “The holiday card performances are a great way to showcase our department. It shows we are actively creating music and writing songs that the choir sings.”

Yau says collaborations bring people together towards one goal.

“Musicians almost always work together in small and large ensembles.  Our music students and faculty are no exception. No harmony can be made with a single voice,” said Yau.

BMCC music students and faculty participate in a variety of concerts throughout the year.  These events are free and open to the entire CUNY community.  For a schedule of upcoming concerts, click here

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • BMCC Concert Choir sings original material for holiday greeting card
  • Project showcases BMCC’s creative music department
  • Choir prepares for debut of upcoming virtual project in 2020

share this story »