The Brookline A Cappella Ensemble |
Adam Beard
Adam graduated with a major in chemistry and a minor in music from Middlebury College where he sang with the Chamber Singers and the Mountain Ayres. He was fortunate to be involved with a number of Musical theater productions during college as well, his favorites of which include Company, Falsettos, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Shop of Horrors. His time in Boston has been spent working as an analytical chemist for Merck Research Laboratories and singing with several groups in and around the city including the Cambridge Chamber Singers and Chorus pro Musica.
Jamie Byron Geller
Jamie's interest in music was fostered by musical theater which she enjoyed participating in throughout high school and college. A cappella was not something she considered before joining BAC, but she is enjoying the challenge. After graduating from the University of Rochester, she earned her master's degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University, and is presently working as a Victim Witness Advocate.
Virpi Ihlberg
Originally from Helsinki, Finland, Virpi recently moved to the Boston area and found her way into this excellent circle of singing friends in Brookline A Cappella. Virpi graduated from the University of Oulu both in Education and Finnish language. In her native country she had a long career in educational publishing, managing Finnish language and literature section in the country’s largest publishing company. Choir singing has been an integral and uninterrupted part of her life since the age of fourteen. Her latest choir in Finland, Helsinki, was an artistically very ambitious up-and-coming Ahjo Ensemble. Along with singing Virpi enjoys reading, art, and hitting small white balls into even smaller holes, with tools totally ill-fitted for the purpose.
Andrew Levine
Andrew graduated from Georgetown University with a major in Government in 2011 and finished his Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2017. An a cappella veteran, Andrew sang and added vocal percussion throughout his entire time at college with co-ed Georgetown group, the Saxatones. Andrew works at MassDevelopment as a Program and Project Manager for an initiative on economic development in the Massachusetts Gateway Cities. One of Andrew's most memorable musical moments is singing with an Italian choir while living in Florence and performing on the island of Elba.
John Meurling
Having returned to New England after retiring from practicing law in New York and Houston, John is pursuing his interests in local history and music. He serves as a seasonal Freedom Trail tour guide for passengers of cruise ships calling at Boston's Black Falcon Cruise Terminal and volunteers with Friends of Boston Harbor Islands as an historical interpreter for Boston Lighthouse tours. In addition to BAC, John sings with and is past president of the Apollo Club of Boston and is a member of the Gloucester-based sea chantey group, Three Sheets to the Wind. He and his wife, Susan, a retired technology educator, live in Boston and Gloucester.
Ken Richman
Ken is a bioethicist working in the Longwood Medical Area, and the father of two very musical boys. Singing has taken over in recent years with BAC and two seasons in the adult chorus of the Christmas Revels, but his primary instrument is clarinet. Ken studied philosophy and played in orchestras at Haverford, Oxford, and Rutgers, and moved to Boston to join the faculty at MCPHS University (formerly the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences).
Joseph Sack
Joey Sack is a baritone-bass singer born, raised, educated, and now employed in Massachusetts. He graduated from Emerson College in 2017 with a B.S. in Journalism. Joey’s participation in BAC is not the first time that he and Susan Emmanouilidis have worked together; he was a student of hers at The Rivers School and The Rivers School Conservatory in Weston, MA, from which he graduated with distinction in 2013, and where he received several awards for vocal performance. Joey's favorite musical is The Lion King, which also happens to be his favorite movie. Outside of singing with BAC, Joey enjoys bike riding, watching and reviewing films, reading, doing vocal impressions, and traveling and spending time with his friends and family.
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Natalie Blahunka
Originally from Chicago, IL, Natalie moved out East to become an Eagle and graduated from Boston College with a B.S. in Psychology in 2014. Since then, she has been working in the health information technology industry, both in a consulting and project management capacity. She currently implements the Population Health product at athenahealth, and is passionate about fixing our broken healthcare system in the U.S. Natalie loves singing, and has been a member of various choirs since the third grade, including several medieval-themed a cappella groups (requiring costumes, of course). She sang with The University Chorale of Boston College under the direction of John Finney, and went on tour to Prague with this group in 2012. Her favorite musical memory is singing Tollite Hostias (the Chorale's "theme song") in a public square in Prague and being told by the police that we were disturbing the city's quiet hours. She is so excited to be singing again and thrilled to be a part of the BAC group!
Rita Ghilani
Rita is a corporate trainer who has designed and delivered seminars in corporations, hospitals, and colleges and universities since the 1990s. Rita has been an active member of the choir at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Sherborn, and also sings with the “house band.” Rita has sung with the Heritage Chorale, Berkshire Choral International, and has also performed with Distinguished Concerts International at Carnegie Hall.
Brett Jackson
Brett recently retired from her 31-year career as Chef at the President's House at Wellesley College. She received her BA from UConn, her culinary training with Madeleine Kamman, and her MS in Nutrition from Tufts University. Since the age of 12, Brett has been singing in choirs, folk bands, and even a rock opera. In addition to her vocal contributions to BAC, Brett sings with a women's folk ensemble, Constellations; a hospice singing group, Journey Songs, and The Heritage Chorale. Brett lives in Ashland with her husband, Rob and has two grown sons, 5 stepchildren and 4 step grandchildren and a one year old grandson. When not singing, Brett keeps busy hiking, drawing, and traveling.
Larina Mehta
Larina earned her BA at Tufts University where she performed with the Tufts University Chorale and Tufts Chamber Singers. Larina also holds a master's degree in public health from George Washington University as well as a master's in education from Harvard. Larina recently left her job as Education Program Director with Boston Public Schools to stay home with her daughter, Avery.
Allan Pendergrast
Allan graduated from RPI with a MS in Computer Science and has been working at Rhythmia Medical doing software QA since then. He has been singing as long as he can remember, most recently with the a cappella group Partial Credit at RPI. In addition to the singing, he put together a number of arrangements for PC, and hopes to arrange some songs for BAC as well.
Stephanie Sacharow
Stephanie graduated from Vanderbilt University with a double music minor in piano and voice, and where she sang in the Swingin' Dores a cappella group. In medical school at the University of Miami, she was the music director for the Note-o-chords a cappella group. She is a medical geneticist at Boston Children's Hospital and on the Harvard medical school faculty. She enjoys performing in community theater, especially with her children, favorite productions being Les Miserables and Annie, and loves singing with BAC.
Dean Shapely
Dean is a husband and father living in Chelmsford, working as the Director of Spiritual Care at Lowell General Hospital. He is an ordained United Methodist Clergy from the Midwest, and has always been singing something to somebody.
Mark Whipple
Mark has loved choral singing since high school, where he had the opportunity to sing Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. As an adult Mark has been with the Quincy Choral Society for over 20 years. During that time he has toured numerous times with that chorus in Europe and performed in Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Mark has been singing with church choirs for many years and currently is a member of the East Congregational Church in Milton. Mark recently retired from 20 years as a public school technology and engineering teacher. Mark is also a theatrical lighting designer at Riverside Theatreworks in Hyde Park, MA.
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