Board of Directors
- President: Emily Murdock Baker
- Vice President: Nicole Stansifer
- Treasurer: Kate Lazar Vargas
- Secretary and Music Librarians: Delaney Broberg and Alex Mulligan
- Concert Manager: Ashley Moran
Artistic Directors
Dr. Steven Coburn, Co-Artistic Director
Steve has been part of the Brooklyn Community Chorus as accompanist, arranger, composer, assistant director, and co-artistic director since its official founding in 2001. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in musicology from New York University. He also studied choral music and conducting at the Saratoga-Potsdam Choral Institute, and piano at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Steve has served as choral accompanist at The Berkeley Carroll School and accompanist and assistant director of the Park Slope Singers. He has taught music at New York University, New School University, Pace University, and currently teaches music history and world music at St. Francis College. Steve is also the assistant director and accompanist for the Brooklyn Philharmonia Chorus, and is the owner of and teaches piano at BrooklynPianoLessons.com. As a musicologist, he has been a regular contributor to AllMusic.com, Naturlaut, has written on musical subjects ranging from the Renaissance through progressive rock for various other music publications, and is currently working on a new book on Mahler’s Tenth Symphony for Toccata Press. Steve has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 2004.
Catherine Aks, Co-Artistic Director
A professional singer for over 40 years, Cathy has toured the country with several organizations, including the Paul Hill Chorale and the Gregg Smith Singers. As soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company at Lincoln Center, she sang George Crumb’s Lux Aeterna and Edgar Varese’s Offrandes, which she also recorded with the Danish Radio Orchestra. She has been soloist with many area choral organizations, as well as performing in such professional choruses as Musica Sacra, New York Choral Artists, and The New York Virtuoso Singers. She continues working as a free-lance professional choral singer.
Cathy has taught voice in New York City for over 40 years: at the Lucy Moses School at the Kaufman Center from 1981-2007, and currently maintains a private voice studio in Brooklyn. She was on the faculty of the Berkshire Choral Festival from 1994-2002. She has been Artist-in-Residence at several NYC area high schools, including New Rochelle, Flushing, Bayside, and Edward R. Murrow high schools. She worked with former BCC Co-Artistic Director Jim DiBenedetto as his Artist-in-Residence for over 15 years at Brooklyn Technical High School.
She received the Queens College Choral Society Distinguished Alumni Award in 1993, and was honored by the National Choral Council in 2000 for distinguished service in their Artist-in-Residence Program. In 2002 she completed the Professional Development Program with the New York Singing Teachers’ Association and was named “Distinguished Voice Professional”.