People

Clara Longstreth, Music Director

Clara Longstreth has conducted New Amsterdam Singers since its formation in 1968. She has served on the faculty of Rutgers University, where she conducted the Voorhees Choir of Douglas College. A student of G. Wallace Woodworth at Harvard, Ms. Longstreth trained for her Master’s degree at the Juilliard School under Richard Westenburg. Further study included work with Amy Kaiser and Semyon Bychkov at the Mannes College of Music and with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival.

In 1997 Ms. Longstreth guest-conducted the Limón Dance Company in performances with NAS and the Riverside Church Choir. In 2010 she again conducted the Limón Dance Company at the Skirball Center at NYU. She is a frequent guest conductor at the annual Messiah Sing-In at Avery Fisher Hall and at the summer sings of the West Village Chorale, the New York Choral Society, and other choruses. She has also served as adjudicator of choral festivals, conducted the Riverdale Country School choral groups and conducted the Juilliard Chorus and Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. In 2006 she presented a lecture-demonstration on “Adventures in Programming” for the Eastern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association.

Of Ms. Longstreth’s programs, Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times, “When a director takes up the challenge of building a cohesive program around a broad theme, we are reminded that programming can be an art.”

David Recca, Assistant Music Director

David Recca is currently an Adjunct Professor of Music at the Conservatory of Music of Purchase College, SUNY. There he directs the Purchase College Chorus and Purchase Chamber Singers, he is a conductor of the Purchase Symphony Orchestra, and he teaches a variety of undergraduate courses including music history, music theory, ear training, and conducting. He is directs the Southern Connecticut Camerata, a Norwalk-based early music ensemble celebrating its 60th season. In May 2014, David completed the coursework and performing requirements for the Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He holds a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music and a Performer’s Certificate in Vocal Coaching and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition from Purchase College.

Pen Ying Fang, Accompanist

Pen Ying Fang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and began studying piano at age five. She attended an “experimental” music-focused grade school there until she moved to the United States to continue her education. Here she studied with Paul Hoffmann and Barbara Gonzalez-Palmer, earning a B.M. and M.M. in Piano at Rutgers Univer- sity in New Jersey. She has performed around the New York metropolitan area, building up an extensive repertoire of solo and chamber works. Ms. Fang has accompanied the master classes of many prominent artists, including Keith Underwod, Evelyn Glennie, Brian McIntosh and Chris- topher Arneson. Additionally, she has toured domestically and overseas with various choirs in the New York area, and in 2007 she played at the “Florence Voice Seminar” in Florence, Italy. Currently she serves as a staff accompanist at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., and teaches piano students in the central New Jersey area.

Will Maitland Weiss, Manager

Will Maitland Weiss joined the New Amsterdam Singers as its Manager at the start of the 2018-2019 season. He is an adjunct professor for St. Lawrence University, teaching a course on entrepreneurship and nonprofit management in their semester-in-New York City program; he has also had guest teaching positions with the Brooklyn College graduate program in arts administration, Brown, CUNY/Baruch, NYU, Seton Hall, and the University of the Virgin Islands. Mr. Weiss is a former executive director of the American Stage Festival, CSC Repertory Theater, the Arts & Business Council of NY, and the Big Apple Circus.

The board of the New Amsterdam Singers is responsible for the overall operation and management of the chorus. Board members are elected by the membership of the chorus.

Officers

Donna W. Zalichin, President
Ellen G. Stark, Vice-President
Orren Alperstein, Treasurer
Robin Beckhard, Secretary

Chorus Members

Non-Chorus Members

Andy James
Susan H. Perkins
Gwendolyn D. Simmons

Advisory Council

(as of November 2020)

*Chamber Chorus Member
**Chamber Chorus only