Artistic Director
Cynthia Powell assumed the position of Artistic Director of the Stonewall Chorale in September, 2002. She has conducted choirs throughout the NY metropolitan area and currently serves as Music Director of Christ Church, Ridgewood NJ, and Organist/Choirmaster of Temple Sinai in Tenafly. Equally at home as a pianist and organist, she toured the U.S. and Europe with Meredith Monk's opera ATLAS, and Monk's Celebration Service and Quarry at the Spoleto, USA Festival, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis and Lincoln Center 2000 Festival. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, she has been a guest conductor at Sarah Lawrence College, the St. George's Choral Society in NYC and the Festival Internacional des Coros in Havana, Cuba. She has produced recitals and concerts to benefit Bailey House, the animals injured in the Exxon-Valdez disaster, and Doctors without Borders. Cynthia is also the conductor of Melodia Women’s Choir of NYC.

Accompanist

Pianist Kyung-A Yoo, a native of Korea, is an active collaborative pianist in the New York metropolitan area. Ms. Yoo continues to develop ways of making artistic and creative expression an essential part of everyday life. Her current projects in this direction include performances as a collaborative pianist at New Triad for Collaborative Arts (Arlene Shrut, director), Joy in Singing (Paul Sperry, director), New York Composers Circle, The Stonewall Chorale and Melodia Women’s Choir.

A strong supporter of new music, she has premiered numerous works for piano and varied chamber music ensembles including Requiem for the Living by Elliot Levine (2006) and  Óyeme con los ojos by Allison Sniffin (2006).

Recently Ms. Yoo has appeared at Merkin Hall, Carnegie Weill Hall, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, Kingsborough College, CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College.

Ms. Yoo received her master’s degree and professional studies certificate as a solo pianist at Mannes College of Music where she was introduced to the collaborative aspects of performance. Her most memorable experience has been studying with the legendary pianist, Leon Pommers, who had worked with such great musicians as Joshua Heifetz and Nathan Milstein.

She has participated in numerous master classes, including Aaron Rosand, Silvia Rosenberg, Charles Castleman, Heidi Castleman, Arnold Steinhardt, Natalia Gutman, Nathaniel Rosen, Eleanor Schoenfeld, Michael Vaiman, Mikhail Kopelman, Julian Milkis, Pinchas Zukerman, Patinka Kopec, Robert Mann, Sharon Robins, Kazuhide Isomura, Matt Haimovitz, Jeanne Baxtresser, Jonathan Feldman, Anne Epperson, Donald McInnes, Zvi Zeitlin, Charles Rieker, Paul Sperry and Martin Katz.

Ms. Yoo currently works as staff accompanist and vocal coach at the Manhattan School of Music where she is completing her doctoral degree as a scholarship recipient.

Since 2000, Ms. Yoo has served as a staff accompanist at the Summit Music Festival and Quartet Program, and in the last two summers was invited by Music Academy of the West at Santa Barbara as a full-scholarship pianist.

Ms. Yoo has recently been selected for both the Ohio Art Song Festival and the California SongFest, (for which she has received the largest scholarship).