H+H Youth Choruses
Chorus of Sopranos + Altos
"The teachers are amazing and they balance fun with learning very well." — HHYC Singer
Chorus of Sopranos and Altos (grades 9-12) is for singers who are eager to perform challenging and innovative repertoire for treble voices as part of an empowering and joyful community. CSA performs music from the Baroque and Classical periods, along with spirituals, jazz, folk songs, and contemporary choral repertoire. The ensemble has sung at Symphony Hall and NEC’s Jordan Hall. CSA has performed with the Rivers Symphony Orchestra, Cappella Clausura, Back Bay Chorale, New England Philharmonic Orchestra, the Heritage Chorale, the Metropolitan Chorale, Winsor Music, and the NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale and has participated in festivals with the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Wellesley College Choir. In addition to performances throughout New England, CSA has toured in Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Ireland with the Chorus of Tenors and Basses. CSA opened the 2021-22 Season with a performance of Beethoven Symphony No. 9 under the direction of Marin Alsop for over 10,000 people at the Hatch Shell.
Rehearsals
Rehearsals for the Chorus of Sopranos + Altos are on Saturdays at 9:50am-1:10pm. All CSA singers have a weekly ensemble rehearsal and musicianship class. Four levels of musicianship classes are offered for CSA singers. The HHYC season lasts from September to May. Rehearsals and classes take place at Josiah Quincy Upper School.
Faculty
Alyson Greer Espinosa, conductor
Ethan DePuy, associate conductor
Dr. Pei-yeh Tsai, collaborative pianist
Tuition
Tuition is $850 for the full year or $425 per semester. Full and partial scholarships are offered for families demonstrating financial need. Families registering more than one singer pay full tuition for one singer and reduced tuition for all additional singers from their household.
Watch + Listen
Faculty
Conductor
Alyson Greer Espinosa
Alyson Greer Espinosa is thrilled to be in her fifteenth season on the H+H Youth Choruses faculty where she is the conductor of the Chorus of Sopranos + Altos and the Chamber Choir. Most recently, Ms. Greer has prepared the HHYC Chamber Choir for performances at H+H's Love, Handel, Baroque Christmas, with the H+H Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Cohen for Handel's Messiah CitySing and for Raphaël Pichon for Beethoven Symphony No. 9, collaborations with the American Spirituals Ensemble and the MIT Chorale, and for the 2023 performance on GBH Christmas Music Spectacular. Ms. Greer has prepared CSA and Chamber Choir for performances with Harry Christophers and the H+H Chorus and Orchestra for Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, Handel’s Messiah and Saul, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, and Monteverdi’s Vespers.
Other ensemble collaborations include the Back Bay Chorale, Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus, Cappella Clausura, Boston Musica Viva, MIT Concert Choir, Metropolitan Chorale, Heritage Chorale, the Eureka Ensemble Women’s Chorus, Mother Caroline Academy, and the NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale. The former Young Women’s Chamber Choir performed on From The Top and CSA was featured in BBC’s Great American Railroad Journeys under her direction in 2017. Such collaborations and performances have afforded Ms. Greer and her singers inspire musical-educational performances with conductors such as Raphaël Pichon, Harry Christophers, Ian Watson, Dr. Scott Allen Jarrett, Dr. Anthony Trecek-King, Dr. Andrew Clark, Dr. Lisa Graham, John Finney, Dr. Lynnel Jenkins, George Steel, and Ismael Sandoval.
associate Conductor
ethan depuy
Praised for his “brilliant voice” and “masterful acting,” American tenor, actor, and musical leader Ethan DePuy (He/Him/His) brings his unique dramatic style to works ranging from the Baroque era to now.
DePuy trained as a young artist at the Brevard Music Center, Charlottesville Opera, and Chautauqua Opera. His list of operatic credits includes Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, the title role in Albert Herring, Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, Jaquino in Fidelio, King Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Dr. Caius in Falstaff, and Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites.
His regional theater credits include Sweeney Todd (Pirelli/Fogg) and The Manic Monologues with Moonbox Productions in Harvard Square, Fiddler on the Roof (Motel) and The Music Man with Charlottesville Opera, Of Thee I Sing and Let ‘Em Eat Cake with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera, and The Museum of Broken Relationships with SpeakEasy Stage. For his work on The Manic Monologues, Ethan was honored to receive a BroadwayWorld award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association.
Mr. DePuy has also established himself as a presence on the concert stage, where highlights include performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Bach’s St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Easter Oratorio, and Mass in B Minor, Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Solemn Vespers, and Coronation Mass, Schubert’s Mass in G, Haydn’s Seven Last Words, Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Stravinsky’s Mass, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion and Christmas Oratorio, and the title role in Handel's Judas Maccabaeus. He has performed as tenor soloist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Music at Marsh Chapel, Emmanuel Music, Providence Baroque Orchestra, Arcadia Players, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Des Moines Choral Festival, CT Early Music Festival, Handel and Haydn Society, and American Bach Soloists.
A native of Rochester, NY, Ethan earned degrees from SUNY Fredonia and the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. He currently serves on the Voice faculty of both Concord Academy and the Holden Voice Program at Harvard University.
Collaborative Pianist
Dr. Peh-yeh Tsai
Born in Taiwan, pianist Pei-yeh Tsai has appeared with the Milwaukee and Chicago Symphony Orchestras and serves as principal pianist for the New Bedford Symphony and substitute pianist for the Cape Cod Symphony. She has also been principal pianist for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Peoria Symphony, and for five years served as substitute pianist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Praised by Yo-Yo Ma as “a powerhouse of a pianist” with “an incredible depth of soul,” she is known for her vivid palette of color and expressive range. Her recording with the Chicago Symphony for Pixar’s Philharmonia Fantastique won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Classical Album. She has performed at the Ravinia Festival with the CSO under Marin Alsop, aired on PBS’s Great Performances, and worked with distinguished conductors including Riccardo Muti, Ken-David Masur, Edwin Outwater, and Edward Gardner.