Who we are
Welcome! We’re glad you’re here. We’re New Choir of Mt. Vernon, and we bring together singers of a wide range of musical backgrounds through thought-provoking and accessible programs, and challenging and inclusive rehearsals.
We’re one of the newest organizations in the area’s choral landscape, contributing to the artistic vibrancy of Midtown Baltimore, Maryland. But that’s not all: we aim to make an impact throughout and beyond Baltimore City.
Established in 2024 by artistic director William Myers-Ortiz, we held our inaugural concert on June 11, 2024 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church (our performance “home”), and performed in our first “away” choral festival at WoCo Fest 2025 in May of that year.
Why “New Choir”? Because we perform the works of living and underrepresented artists, as well as premiers and commissions in our Fall and Spring concert series. Our performances also feature selected poetry readings by members in addition to our musical arrangements. For more nerdy specifics: We focus on secular text settings, accessible harmonic language and vocalistic melodies, and varied rhythm, meter, and text stress.
Choir members include a range of musical experience levels and abilities (sight-reading is not required) and an array of genders, backgrounds, and ages ranging from 20s to 70s! We hold auditions in the winter and summer preceding our Spring and Fall seasons. Learn more on our Join page.
Artistic Team
Artistic Director and Conductor
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William Myers-Ortiz (he/him) is a singer and choral conductor based in Baltimore. In all his music making, he explores the potential of music as a recreative process that draws people together and inspires deeper thoughts and feelings.
Will approaches conducting as a dynamic leader, educator, and technician, and he seeks to drive people around him to be their best, musically and beyond. Since 2017, he has assistant-conducted a range of community, academic, and church choirs and served as interim director for the University of Chicago Glee Club. In 2022, he co-founded the Choral Collective at McGill, a cohort of musicians building their various ensemble techniques through peer-to-peer learning and workshops. He made his church conducting debut at St. Peter's Church in Morristown, NJ with a performance of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, and continued to provide assistant conducting throughout his tenure there. In Baltimore, Will is a co-founder and the artistic director of New Choir of Mt. Vernon, associate conductor for Bach in Baltimore, and has appeared on the podium at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, including as assistant director for the choir’s 2024 concert of the All Night Vigil by Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Grace & St. Peter's Episcopal Church.
Will’s conducting is guided and enriched by singing in choirs at a wide range of levels. He has appeared in concert with professional ensembles including Chicago’s Grant Park Chorus and Constellation Men’s Ensemble, sung on CDs with the Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul and New Muses Project, and soloed in concert with the Emmanuel Choir and the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers. Just as meaningful to him have been his experiences with amateur choirs, including the Peabody Hopkins Conservatory Choir (PHCC), the University of Chicago Glee Club, Chicago Chorale, and Montréal’s Les Voix Férrées, each of which inspired deep joy and commitment to the people of each choir. Will is currently a member of the Emmanuel Choir where he is a frequent soloist, appearing recently as a tenor soloist for excerpts from Leonard Bernstein's MASS and in J.S. Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4.
Will holds degrees from the University of Chicago and McGill University, studying primarily under James Kallembach and Jean-Sébastien Vallée respectively. A member of the inaugural class of graduate choral conductors at Peabody Institute, he will also earn a graduate performance diploma in 2026 under Beth Willer, and he serves as a graduate assistant for the conducting studio, PHCC, and Peabody’s NEXT Ensemble. At festivals and masterclasses, including the 2025 Chorus America Conducting Academy, Will has studied with Donald Nally, Rob Istad, David Hayes, Jerry Blackstone, Ed Maclary, Scott Metcalfe, and Marin Alsop. He reads and writes poetry, is a dedicated member of his local running club, and a public transit enthusiast. When not singing with choirs, he is happiest outside, either walking or reading (and sometimes, dangerously, both).
Assistant Conductor
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Soprano and collaborative musician Lauren Kim is heartened by music’s ability to be a vessel for human expression. She believes that our art is a reflection of our own stories, and hopes for her audiences to be inspired by the unifying power of each performance and project she pursues.
An enthusiast of all classical genres, Lauren has performed in various productions, including Così fan tutte (Dorabella, 2022), The Merry Widow (Valencienne, 2020), Die Fledermaus (featured soloist, 2019), and Le Nozze di Figaro (children’s choir, 2015). Her performances also include vocal and piano solo recitals at Steinway Hall and the Riverside Church in Manhattan, along with a virtual recital in collaboration with The Juilliard School & Nord Anglia.
As an aspiring conductor, Lauren works closely with her colleagues in Baltimore to bring vocal ensemble repertoire of all genres to life. She currently serves as the assistant conductor of the New Choir of Mt. Vernon, a volunteer ensemble focused on new, secular choral works, and dedicated to the enrichment of its local community.
Administrative Team
Board of Directors
Drew Blankstein
Kit Rees
Officers
Bridey Gallagher
Eva Jannotta
Tim Teeter
Kendall Tibo