On May 6th, the GRAMMY winner National Children’s Chorus performed at Carnegie Hall, and as a vocal mentor, I got to perform with them. However, the “mission accomplished” feeling that I always get every time I perform there was stronger this time. Thanks to the generosity of NCC, I was able to get 83 free tickets for 20 families that I serve at NYFACS to enjoy the concert. I am sure that this experience has the potential to be life-changing for some of my students. I felt like I did something good, and I feel grateful for it. For more info about NCC’s upcoming projects, feel free to visit their website: https://nationalchildrenschorus.com/
Category: Uncategorized
I took some time off last week and got to watch Katy Perry in Las Vegas! The show was quite entertaining, and she does a duet with a giant turd with some corn attached to it (literally)!
I love when the artist takes their silly ideas and makes them come to life!
I love singing at that church! Once in a while, I can find some time on my schedule to go there and sing with AMAZING singers in a GORGEOUS space! This church is one of my top 5 when it comes to high-quality Music making and beauty! You can watch the whole service here: https://www.youtube.com/live/0GSGEYFc4oE?feature=share
I am thrilled to announce that I have been invited to join the staff of The Grotto Church of Notre Dame as a singer.
The Grotto Church of Notre Dame is a historic and beautiful church located in the heart of the city. It is the home of three different communities, English-speaking, French-speaking and Spanish-speaking. Its diverse cultural traditions and languages reflect the multiple sides of faith expression.
I am grateful for the opportunity to share my voice with the congregation of The Grotto Church of Notre Dame.
Check out their website: https://ndparish.org/
It was a lot of work, but I am so grateful!!!!
Creating a new vocal ensemble has been a labor of love, but the results are worth it. In October 2022, I launched a “Call for Scores” to discover new choral music and was blown away by the response.
I received an overwhelming 448 submissions from 283 choral composers from all over the world. I had initially intended to select 9 pieces for our first recording project, but the quality and diversity of the submissions made it a challenging task.
It is heartening to know that choral music, which has always been my passion, is alive and well. There are so many talented composers dedicating themselves to this art form.
If you’re curious about the final selections, you can check them out on our website at https://bhconcertproductions.com/bhvivavox.
Last night I sang with the Oberlin College and Conservatory at Carnegie Hall. We performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for a special concert for the United Nations. That masterpiece sounds pretty great, but it is not singer friendly at all! It hurts me every time, but it is worth it!
I am happy to announce that I was invited to join The National Children’s Choir as a Vocal Mentor for the 2022/23 season! Amazing concerts and great Music making!
I am happy to announce that this year I will be teaching Music at NYFACS – New York French American Charter School! It feels great to be back in the classroom and inspire so many people to better their lives through Music!
New York City, August 5th, 2022
An open letter to Chorus America.
On August 4th, 2022, I received an email from Chorus America. As a subscriber, I receive emails from them once in a while, so this was not supposed to be a big deal at all.
However, as soon as I started reading the contents of that email, I could not help but feel appalled by seeing racism being promoted among choral leaders. Therefore, I have some questions.
In the email that you can see attached to this text, Chorus America is promoting a new cohort this Fall for their ADEI Learning Lab (Access, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) targeting “white choral leaders seeking to address structural racism in their organizations and become better allies and accomplices to their black, indigenous, and people of color colleagues.”
If some people fail to understand how racist Chorus America as an organization is acting by promoting this narrative, let me try to explain the reason behind some of the questions I have:
1 – How can anyone determine if someone else is white, black, Asian, or people of color? Obviously, we can see how people look and categorize them according to what we see as similar, but how can we assume that we understand how hard or easy other people had it in life based on our narrow perception of what their lives look like to us?
2 – What is “Whiteness”?
3 – Where is the evidence that “Whiteness” and “White Supremacy” are real, or even a threat considering that the present moment is the year 2022, and we as a society are capable of learning from our past? Do we understand that there are no reparations that will justify and “make it even” any suffering that our ancestors had endured regardless of the reasons?
4 – Could you guys provide evidence of structural racism in any legal and compliant organization operating in 2022?
5 – Could you guys explain that, in order to fight racism, a valid approach is to single out what you consider as “white people” and assume that they share beliefs and or misunderstandings about society just because of the color of their skin?
(If you are still reading this, and you consider yourself a civil individual capable of debating ideas over personal feelings, I appreciate your time, and I ask you to keep reading until the end of this document.)
Now that I shared with the world some of the questions I have about what I consider to be racist behavior coming from Chorus America as an organization, let me share some of my opinions:
YOU WILL NEVER SOLVE RACISM BY TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE’S RACE. AS LONG AS YOU SEE RACE AS RELEVANT AND PREVALENT OVER PEOPLE’S CHOICES REGARDING THEIR OWN LIVES, YOU ARE BEING RACIST.
IF YOU STILL BELIEVE THAT “WHITE PEOPLE” HAVE IT EASIER JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE WHITE CONSIDERING THAT WE LIVE IN 2022 AND THE MAJORITY OF US HAVE TO SERVE SOCIETY IN ORDER TO SURVIVE (YES, I AM TALKING ABOUT MONEY), YOU ARE EITHER TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND (AND I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU), OR YOU ARE MALEVOLENT AND YOU WANT REVENGE (WHICH PROVES THAT YOU ARE NOT AS NICE AS YOU WANT TO BELIEVE YOU ARE)
CHORUS AMERICA AS AN ORGANIZATION CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT, BUT I RESERVE THE RIGHT THAT I HAVE TO CALL YOU ON YOUR BULLSHIT.
AMERICA IS A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, AND IT IS THE LEAST RACIST COUNTRY IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. IF YOU THINK OTHERWISE, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM, NOT AMERICA.
CHORAL MUSIC IS AN EXAMPLE OF A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT IN A SOCIETY, IN WHICH EVERY VOICE MATTERS, AND AS LONG AS YOU ARE CAPABLE OF CONTROLLING YOUR INSTRUMENT, LISTENING TO OTHERS, FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, AND BEHAVING PROPERLY WHEN IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH OTHERS, YOU WILL BE RESPECTED REGARDLESS OF YOUR BACKGROUND AND YOUR SKIN COLOR.
I AM ALWAYS WILLING TO CHANGE MY OPINIONS AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT. COME AFTER ME WITH DATA, LOGIC, AND WELL-SUPPORTED JUSTIFICATIONS FOR YOUR RACIST CLAIMS. IF YOU ARE STILL A PREY ON YOUR OWN FEELINGS, YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN ANY OF US.
link for the document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JmZ8cWMgiP_6Z5qoSDRTJQyqSF29F4rl/view?usp=sharing
My piece “Someone Who Dreams” was accepted into the prestigious PROJECT : ENCORE™ Catalog of post-premiere choral compositions.
This is the fifth piece I got there!
Here is the link so you can check it out: http://projectencore.org/bill-heigen