Our Singers
Click on a singer’s name to jump to their bio.
| Soprano: Hannah Doll Katrina Kuka Loralyn Light Allison Matthews Erin Murphy Haley Rayfield Rachel Somers Sophie Sparrow Janine Willis | Alto: Jennifer Lawrence Birnbaum Marilyn Crooker Abby Deering Maia Finkel Lisa Banlaki Frank Jessica Franken Lynn Leopold Barbara Ann Powell |
| Tenor: Chuck Burch Seamus Buxton Scott Miller Paul Soper Ben Stevens Andy Weislogel Timmy Samuel Yesudasan | Bass: Miles Ludek Jeremy Pletter Dennis Powell Geof Royall Keith B. Slayden Daniel Taylor Gavin Tremblay |
Jennifer Lawrence Birnbaum is a music teacher, choral director, and performer with music education degrees from Ithaca College and Columbia University. She has been singing with CVE on and off for more than 20 years. She currently serves on the faculty of the Community School of Music and Arts, New Roots Charter School, and maintains a private studio. She was previously the choir director for First Baptist Church, First Unitarian Society, Justice Choir Ithaca, and Transpose: Ithaca Queer Singers Alliance. Jennifer has held positions on the boards of the Kodaly Organization of New York, Cornell Savoyards, Women’s Works, Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, Community Arts Partnership, and Fine Arts Booster Group.
Seamus Buxton is happy to have made a singing home with CVE. A member of the group since 2024, he can be found singing everything from Opera to Contemporary A Cappella. Singing with groups in the Southern Tier and up and down the Finger Lakes, he is also a section leader and soloist for St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Ithaca. Seamus is a graduate of Ithaca College with a Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance.
Lisa Banlaki Frank joined CVE in 2001, having sung previously with the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, Syracuse Oratorio, Hendrick’s Chapel Choir at SU, and Hartford Chorale. She frequently performed in theatres in the area, some of which include Savoyards Ithaca, Merry Go Round Theatre, Cortland Rep, Theatre Incognita, Ithaca Shakespeare Co., and Firehouse Theatre, as well as being a member of the Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble. She was a founding member of Icarus Theatre. A graphic designer, Lisa earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford and retired after 17 years as Assistant Art Director at Cornell Alumni Magazine. (She still works part-time for Cornell’s IT Department!) Lisa sings locally with The Tarps, a rock “cover” band and lives in Freeville with her two sister cats.
Jessica Franken joined CVE in spring 2025. Since moving to Ithaca in 2022, she has been involved in many singing groups. She is active in the local Threshold Singers chapter, providing music and comfort to people in hospice. In former lives, Jessica studied jazz piano and orchestral percussion, marched snare in drum corps, and rocked out in many musical theater pits. She studies voice with Meagan Miller.
Katrina Kuka (Soprano) has been performing with CVE since 2016. She also sings regularly with the Southern Tier Singer’s Collective as well as St. Luke Lutheran Church Choir & their Compline contingent. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College. Other credits include Technical Director for Dryden School District musicals (The Addams Family, Legally Blonde, Seussical, and more), Musical Director/Choir Master for Savoyards Ithaca (Candide, Princess Ida, Jennie’s Will), and Orchestral Director for Melodramatics Theatre Co. (West Side Story). She lives in Groton, NY with her spouse and their three cats. In her free time, she is an avid handy woman, tinkerer, and crafter, and enjoys spending time outdoors.
Lynn Leopold majored in music at Colorado College, then moved to Ithaca in 1979 to attend Cornell for a Master’s in Science and never left. Since moving here, she has sung in various vocal groups, including Ithaca Community Chorus, Schola Cantorum of Syracuse, Cornell Chorale, Luscinia (a 5-voice, one-on-a-part early music group), and Cayuga Vocal Ensemble.
Scott Miller is a native of Ithaca and lives in Dryden with his wife and daughters. He first sang with CVE in 1984 when it was The Ithaca Arts Ensemble and has been with the group for most of the intervening years. A graduate of Ithaca College School of Music with degrees in both Instrumental and Vocal Music Education and retired music educator. He has been Music Director for the First Presbyterian Church of Dryden since 1987 and just finished his third season directing the Dryden Area Intergenerational Chorus.
Erin Murphy is a lifelong lover of choral singing who has participated in a plethora of ensembles. She spent her formative summers singing at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan and later graduated with a Music minor from Kalamazoo College. Outside of singing, Erin is a software engineer and runs a freelance business transcribing music for hand-crank music boxes.
Barbara Ann Powell has been a member of CVE since 2013. She lives in Endwell, NY, where she and her husband Dennis raised two sons. A retired music educator with the Binghamton City School District, she is an active member of New York State School Music Association(NYSSMA), Broome County Music Educators Association(BCMEA), National Association for Music Educators(NAfME), National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and the Southern Tier Music Educators Association(STMTA). Barbara Ann studied and performed at the Saratoga-Potsdam Choral Institute (under the baton of several world-famous conductors), the Ogontz Choral Symposia under George Kent and Sir David Willcocks, the Basically Bach Ensemble, Binghamton Downtown Singers, A Company for Chamber Opera, and the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton. She has guest conducted numerous choral groups and festival choirs around New York State. Barbara Ann is currently a private voice teacher, specializing in children’s voices and the changing voice.
Dennis Powell has sung with CVE since 2011. A retired music educator, Dennis lives with his wife, Barbara Ann, in Endwell, NY. A graduate of the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, he began his teaching career in Watertown, NY (1974-1979) and in Broome County Catholic Schools (1979-1981) before finding his niche as a music teacher for Vestal Central School District (1979-2010). At Vestal High School he maintained a special tradition of excellence with the Vestal Voices, conducting them at NYSSMA earning Gold with Distinction, participating at Ithaca College premiering original works of composers in workshop and concert, and conducting them in a full concert at Carnegie Hall in 2003. Dennis is called upon as a baritone soloist, and has performed as a Resident Artist with Tri- Cities Opera, in A Company for Chamber Opera, and in Basically Bach Ensemble. Dennis also served for 14 years as music director of the First Presbyterian Church of Johnson City.
Geoffrey Royall is a piano technician who has sung in many choral ensembles in Ithaca and surrounding areas over the years. In addition to the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, he currently sings in the Southern Tier Singers Collective in Binghamton and Saint Luke Church in Ithaca. Mr. Royall also has a masters degree in composition.
Daniel A.P. Taylor is a singer, dancer, and actor. He has trained with Patrice Pastore (IC), Ivy Walz, Lynn Craver, and Eliza VanCort (Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca). Past roles include James in BILLY BLYTHE (Opera Ithaca), Ser Amantio di Nicolao, GIANNI SCHICCI (IC); St. Thomas Aquinas/Tim/Doctor, MITZI’S ABORTION (AWITC); Man, CLOSER THAN EVER (BrandX). Daniel has served on the boards of Opera Ithaca and Cayuga Vocal Ensemble. By day, Daniel is an instructional designer at Cornell University and is pursuing an M.S. at Syracuse University.
Keith B. Slayden has been a continuous member of CVE since 1996 performing as well as being on the Board. He is currently the Archivist and Librarian for the group. He studied voice with Patrice Pastore at Ithaca College. He has had roles in dozens of performances of musical theater, opera, operetta, secular and sacred choirs in his native northern New Jersey as well as the Ithaca area.
Rachel Somers is a senior Vocal Music Education Major at Ithaca College. She has pursued a range of choral conducting experiences through workshops and masterclasses with leading professionals in the community, complementing her performance life in various ensembles throughout the Ithaca area in addition to her on-campus commitments including the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, Opus Ithaca, and the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers.
Sophie Sparrow is passionate about choral music, and has sung with the St Olaf Choir and St Luke Church and Compline choirs. When not singing (and sometimes while singing), Sophie is a mom, a partner, a hiker, a cyclist, and a pediatric behavioral health consultant.
Ben Stevens has been a local since he came to Ithaca College for music in 2011, and he decided to settle down. He’s been performing with CVE since 2020, and he is also part of the Southern Tier Singers’ Collective in Binghamton. He has also worked as a music director for companies and schools in the area. He loves singing with this group, and can’t wait for you to hear what we’re doing next.
Gavin Tremblay is a performer, educator, and conductor residing in the Ithaca area. A passionate choral singer, he performs regularly in Ithaca and beyond with the Southern Tier Singers’ Collective, First Inversion, the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, the Opus Ithaca Odyssey Choir, and more. He serves as director for the Kendal Chorus, Ithaca Rock Voices, and as music director of Forest Home Chapel. Tremblay currently teaches music and Spanish at the Ithaca Waldorf School.
Andy Weislogel entered into a lifelong love of choral singing with the Montclair Boys’ Chorus of Montclair, NJ at the age of ten. He has been a member of various choruses, chamber choirs, church choirs, mens’ choirs (including the Cornell University Glee Club), and a cappella groups through high school, college, and graduate school. Andy joined the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble in 1994 and has been proud to make music in the Ithaca community and CNY region ever since. Andy graduated from Hamilton College with a B.A. in Medieval Studies (including early music!) and holds a PhD in Italian and French Renaissance Art History from Cornell, where he now serves as the Askin Curator of Earlier European and American Art at Cornell’s Johnson Museum. Andy has served on the CVE board including involvement on search committees for previous directors. Andy’s wife Nancy and twin daughters Clare and Gigi all pursue music in various forms including handbells, cello, piano, and voice.
Janine Willis has been singing with Cayuga Vocal Ensemble since 2014. She has appeared as a chorus member in productions with Opera Ithaca, Triphammer Arts, Inc. as well as Savoyards Musical Theatre, Ltd. She has appeared as a guest soloist for the Ithaca Community Chorus, the SUNY Broome chorus, and for Music’s Recreation. Janine currently studies voice with Deborah Montgomery-Cove. Janine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from SUNY Oswego and a Master of Science in Higher Education Administration from the Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the University of Rochester. Janine is currently the Program Coordinator for the Community Beautification Program in Ithaca, NY. She also works as an application review specialist for the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at the SC Johnson College of Business.
Timmy Samuel Yesudasan is the Vocal Music Teacher at Newfield Central School District where he teaches Choirs, Voice Lessons and General Music for grades 6-12. He got his Master of Music in Performance from Ithaca College, where he was the instructor for class voice for non-majors and taught voice lessons to music minors and non-voice majors. He has sung with CVE since the spring of 2022 and enjoys making music with the group.
Cayuga Vocal Ensemble 