“No one really noticed me the first year,” she says, “I was the quiet one.”

Sharice Bright

Sharice Bright, one of the most senior members of the choir, has seen Highbridge Voices grow and change from the very beginning. “No one really noticed me the first year,” she says, “I was the quiet one.” But she says that didn’t last long, and she now sees her role in the choir as that of “an older sister. I listen when they have jokes or questions.” As with so many of our students, Sharice juggles many interests and pursuits. In addition to attending rehearsals each week and donating her time as a volunteer at Highbridge Voices, she is a member of the Science Bowl club and participates in various tournaments throughout the year. “I didn’t even know I was that good at science,” she says. “It just comes to me.”

Sharice is spending her summer interning at a real estate company in Manhattan while preparing to start college in the fall. She plans to get her degree in environmental science and pursue her dream of becoming a performer.

“...As long as we were making people smile and laugh, I don’t care where we perform.”

Hakeem Poe

Hakeem Poe is a natural performer, comfortable with dancing and basketball, two passions of his. He is a charter member of Highbridge Voices who auditioned for the choir at the encouragement of his mom. “The first year the choir interfered with sports,” he admits, but now he has no trouble walking off the courts and onto the stage. He recently performed in excerpts from the opera Carmen, a concert of complex singing and choreography, which Hakeem said was his favorite performance thus far. “Crazy,” he says. “It was like the best concert and we had the best dance. I was really feeling the dance.”

Since Hakeem is a veteran of Highbridge Voices, he’s seen the choir perform everywhere from school gymnasiums to television studios to Lincoln Center. As for his favorite concert venue? “I enjoy everywhere. As long as we were making people smile and laugh, I don’t care where we perform.” Highbridge Voices has become something of a family affair for Hakeem’s family: his older sister, Stacey Poe, works at Highbridge as the music librarian, and his niece, Nyja Poe, has joined the Training Choir.

At eleven years old, she is a star student academically as well as one of the leaders...

Amber Smith

Amber Smith is one of our go-getters. When Highbridge Voices came to her school to audition students, she quietly signed up and asked permission later. She is a star student academically as well as one of the leaders in the Concert Choir, a person whom other students look to for direction, guidance and inspiration.

She is also a star chess player, able to beat both adults and computers. In addition to being in both the Concert Choir and the Chamber Choir, she practices chess two to three hours a day and is a member of her school’s chess club. She first started playing chess at age four with her father. When asked which she prefers—chess or choir—she grins from ear to ear. “I like them both,” she smiles with the same irrepressible enthusiasm she displayed while being interviewed live on channel 5’s Good Day New York with her mother. Amber has set her sights on auditioning for high school at the LaGuardia School for the Performing Arts.

“I want to be a professional singer.”

Carlos Lacayo

Carlos Lacayo doesn’t hesitate when asked about his future goals. “I want to be a professional singer,” he states. He’s way ahead of the competition. He spent most of the summer making CD’s of original songs with his brother and sending demos to record companies. Carlos auditioned at LaGuardia School for the Performing Arts, a prestigious high school in Manhattan. Members of our faculty worked with Carlos on his audition pieces, on ear training and sight singing, in addition to his regular studies in music theory and history.

Carlos is also a talented dancer and has performed many numbers for the Chamber Choir. Though his performances are always beautifully and skillfully executed, Carlos is quick to recall a dance performance that was less-than-graceful, a 1950’s Salsa number called “Cuando Calienta El Sol.” “I showed up in an arm cast and had to dance,” Carlos remembers. “The other two people got to turn, but I didn’t get to turn. Everyone knew me as the kid in the middle with a cast.” Now, with cast off, he is preparing to enter the eighth grade and continue dancing and singing with both the Concert Choir and Chamber Choir—as well as pursuing his dream as a professional singer.

“I look forward to coming here,” she says.

Dunia Rodriguez

Dunia Rodriguez has been dancing since she could walk. A member of both the Concert Choir and the Chamber Choir, she has been with us since the beginning, performing complex choreographed pieces and vocal solos. Dunia starred as Carmen in a recent Highbridge Voices production, performing excerpts from the opera that won her accolades from the packed house. She brings a decade of dance expertise to Highbridge Voices and is comfortable performing everything from ballet to Flamenco to jazz to Caribbean, though she concedes modern dance is one of her favorites. “It’s really active,” she says. And so is Dunia—during the summer she spends her weekdays honing her talent with various dance troupes, then it’s off to a dance summer camp upstate. But she still makes time for Highbridge Voices. “I look forward to coming here,” she says. “I wouldn’t skip it for anything.”

In addition to the considerable energy and talents she brings to Highbridge Voices, she serves as both model and mentor for the other students. Dunia won a scholarship to Cardinal Spellman High School, a prestigious performing arts high school in the Bronx. But dancing is only one of many options that this high school freshman envisions for herself. “I’m so young and I don’t know what’s out there,” she says. “I still don’t know what I want to do.”

“It was cool but the dancing was really hard,” William says of the countless hours spent learning...

William Cabeza

William Cabeza has been surrounded by music his entire life. His father had a band and is a big Salsa fan and both his mother and father encouraged William to audition for Highbridge Voices. He aspires to be a professional singer and counts among his influences Mark Anthony, but admits to liking all music.

He already has an impressive list of performances to his credit in both our Concert Choir and Chamber Choirs. He recently performed as one of a trio of dancers for the opera Carmen. “It was cool but the dancing was really hard,” William says of the countless hours spent learning the sophisticated dance numbers. He also played Michael, the lead role in Robert Kapilow’s operetta for children, “Elijah’s Angel,” and performed in a solo group “Till The Season Comes Round Again,” the closing number for the choir’s debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.

William is also the musical leader for his group in the Concert Choir and says “when they can’t do it right you gotta’ show them how.” Between his rehearsal and performance schedule in the Concert and Chamber Choirs, William stays pretty busy, and he often doesn’t get home till 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening. If he didn’t have Highbridge Voices, he says, “I don’t have anything to do but stay home.”

“That’s what I want to do with my life. I want to make a new sound.”

Johnathan Lopez

Johnathan Lopez is no stranger to hard work. "At first," he admits, "coming to Highbridge Voices took up a lot of my time. I was used to playing outside after school. After I started coming more and more, I got used to it, started fitting in and making new friends." And Johnathan hasn't looked back since. He has performed in numerous dance and vocal solo groups for a wide variety of music in both the Concert Choir and the Chamber Choir. Now he aspires to a career as a professional singer.

"I think of myself as a singer," he says. "That's what I want to do with my life. I want to make a new sound." And he's well on his way. He attends the LaGuardia School of Performing Arts, a prestigious high school in Manhattan. "My mom is happy-she wanted me to go to LaGuardia," he says. "She wanted me to focus on singing." Johnathan feels he does he does better in school as a result of his studies at Highbridge Voices. "It actually helped me improve my reading and writing skills," he says. "I start by homework in school, then I come to Highbridge during homework assistance, and finally finish at home because they give us homework here, too!" Johnathan has little time for play now, and says "he sees a lot of people wasting their lives, doing nothing really, then they become nothing. I don't want to do that. I wanna be different."