Long Beach Chorale and Chamber Orchestra

Dean has been singing with the chorale for about eleven years. He also serves as the president of the chorale’s board, taking care of everything from managing the online ticketing system and printing our programs, tickets, flyers, and mailers to keeping an eye on our budget and coordinating with Artistic Director Eliza Rubenstein. By day, he’s the director of client services for The Ryan Group, which provides marketing and sales support for food companies.

Dean has quite an extensive and varied musical background. “My mom insisted on piano as a first instrument, but I never could get my left hand to be very helpful,” he says. So he took up guitar and trumpet in the third grade and played in the school orchestra. He also sang folk songs with his brother through middle school, keeping up his trumpet skills the whole time. By the time he got to college he was practicing baroque trumpet in his fraternity house, something he enjoyed, although he says he imagines he can’t say the same for the brothers.

Singing in the chorale is important to Dean because he appreciates the challenge and learning opportunities it presents. “But I also love the feeling of peace that embraces the audience and singers during and after each performance. I think we make the world a little more civilized with each rehearsal and performance,” he says. His favorite performance so far was the Brahms Requiem in the 2009-2010 season.

Something Dean hasn’t revealed to the rest of his fellow singers before is his water polo-playing past. He played the sport in high school and college, then switched to rugby in his junior year. “I couldn’t keep up on my studies with the water polo schedule, so I switched to a less demanding sport, rugby,” he says. Define “less demanding,” Dean! He ended up playing rugby for three college seasons, then played a year of club rugby in Ohio after graduation.

Dean has kept up an active lifestyle. When he’s not singing with us, he’s sailing or riding his bicycle. He’s also a family man and enjoys spending time with his wife at home, going to church, watching his son do improv, and “cheering for my adult daughters in each endeavor,” he adds.

There are several things that keep Dean coming back to the chorale year after year. “With something like 400 rehearsals under my belt, I can say for sure I’ve learned something every time. Eliza is a great teacher and very encouraging,” he says. “The quality of our sound as a group is the thing I appreciate most.”

Other than recordings of the Long Beach Chorale’s performances, all of which he keeps on his iPod, Dean likes to listen to classical music, jazz, anything Paul Desmond ever played, classical guitar (especially Segovia and Parkening), and folk music.

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Steve, a member of the chorale’s bass section, is a professor at UCI. He’s been with the chorale for five years and came to us with a great deal of choral experience. He spent four years in the University Choir at Penn State and five years in the Stanford University Singers. His favorite performance with the Long Beach Chorale was the Brahms Requiem in the 2009-10 season.

“The chorale is important to me because it’s a great avenue for artistic expression that complements my career in science,” Steve says. One thing we might be surprised to know about him? He once raised a prize-winning aquarium fish.

When he’s not singing, Steve spends his time bicycling and chasing after his two energetic little children. His favorite music to listen to includes the bands Muse and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s also partial to the song stylings of Sausage Grinder, his friend’s band, not the kitchen implement. He also enjoys the works of Brahms and Bach.

To “adopt” Steve as part of our Adopt a Singer program, click here:

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Joe, a bass, joined the chorale in the 2010-11 season with his wife Kathy. His favorite performance last season was Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem. Perhaps he was comforted by the message of redemption for mankind, as he is a retired parole administrator. Or maybe it’s just his years of choral and small ensemble singing that give him his excellent taste in music!

Singing with the chorale provides an outlet for his artistic side and helps him contribute beauty to the world, Joe says, dear soul. In addition to classical music, especially chamber music, he loves to listen to classic rock.

In his spare time, Joe enjoys running, biking, swimming, taking care of and enjoying his home and property, and loving his grandsons. Notably, Joe has ridden his bicycle across North America, with his wife Kathy serving on his support crew. She was so inspired that she too has taken up cycling recently.

To “adopt” Joe as part of our Adopt a Singer program, click here:

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Lisa, an alto, is the musical theater aficionado in the chorale! She has 35 years of musical theater and opera performance under her belt, and she studied piano for eight years and took voice lessons for 10. An attorney by day, she’s been singing with the Long Beach Chorale for two years, and her favorite performance has been the Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams. As for her favorite movement of that piece?

“It’s a tie between the Reconciliation movement and the Dirge for Two Veterans,” she says.

She’s not all Sondheim and Gershwin, though. “I have an uncanny knack for being in foreign countries at the time of civil unrest or other major political events,” Lisa says. “In the past I was suspected to work for the CIA but if I told you whether or not it was true, I’d have to kill you.” Very mysterious, indeed!

John Breihan, a retired community college administrator, has been singing with the Long Beach Chorale for five years. His favorite performance with us so far was the Brahms Requiem in the 2009-2010 season. “I enjoy the quality and variety of the music the group performs. I am also impressed with the musicality of the singers,” John says.

Before he retired, the last position he held was the vice chancellor of educational services for the Coast Community College District.

John has an extensive background in choral music at Southern California’s educational institutions. He graduated from Chapman University with a minor in music and sang in the Chapman Choir and Chamber Singers under the direction of William Hall. More recently he has sung with the Orange Coast College Chamber Singers under Richard Raub and the Golden West College Chamber under Bruce Bales. Currently, he sings with the Mesa Verde Methodist Church Chancel and Rejoice Choirs, where Long Beach Chorale’s Artistic Director Eliza Rubenstein has previously served as the minister of music.

But John’s talents lie beyond singing – he’s also a golfer with a single digit handicap. When he’s not at a choir rehearsal or on the links, he enjoys spending time with his grandkids, traveling, and listening to Broadway musicals.

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Susan Graham is one of our new singers this season, joining the alto section. She has a degree in choral vocal conducting from Cal State Long Beach and has been singing in choirs for as long as she can remember. “I love to sing and since graduating from CSULB I have not had time to join a group,” Susan says. “I am so excited to be singing again!”

When she’s not singing, Susan is spending quality time with her three-year-old daughter and ten-month-old son. Playing in the background at Susan’s house, you might hear some of her favorite music, which includes jazz, blues, country, the Beatles, and classical.

We’re so glad to have you singing with us, Susan!

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A member of the Long Beach Chorale for six years, Tracy is an alto and a school teacher by day. Her favorite performance was the Brahms Requiem in the 2009-10 season.

Tracy holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Cal State Long Beach, and has been teaching and performing music since elementary school. “Singing in the Long Beach Chorale is like having a weekly master class in theory, history, and performance. In addition to all that, I am having a great deal of fun with others who love to sing,” Tracy says.

When she’s not singing or teaching, Tracy enjoys gardening, cooking, making jewelry, and traveling. She listens to all kinds of music, including classical, pop, rock, or world music. “Whatever I’m in the mood for, or whatever I can sing to in the car!” Tracy says.

Supporting the Long Beach Chorale is embraced by the entire Kogen family. While Tracy lends her voice to the group, her husband Barry serves on the chorale’s Board of Directors, and her daughter Ruth serves as the Grants chair.

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Jackie Fritz is the chorale’s own Nurse Jackie. A nurse practitioner, she provides health advice, flu season updates, and pharmaceuticals to singers as needed. She’s also known to wake up at 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning to bake so she can supply us with brownies and other baked treats at rehearsals. She’s notorious for her outspoken sense of humor and can get the entire chorale belly-laughing with a well-timed quip.

Jackie, an alto, has been a member of the chorale for six years, and although she has a hard time choosing among her favorite pieces we’ve performed, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem stands out. She took voice lessons and performed with a madrigal singers group in college. She says singing with the chorale and learning new and exciting music stimulates her brain. “I love it, it wraps me in happiness,” she adds. She’ll listen to any type of music BUT country western, she says. “The twang gets me.”

While she has made her career in the healthcare field, Jackie says she would also love to raise dogs for a living. “That might be my next career–raising dogs for patient care,” she says. In addition, she loves traveling and says her all-time favorite pastime is making memories with her family.

To “adopt” Jackie as part of our Adopt a Singer program, click here:

Or you can use our PayPal account.

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Thanks for supporting the Long Beach Chorale!