D E PA R T M E N T S M U S I C
SINGING THE SONG
THE VOLUNTEER SINGERS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA MASTER CHORALE DELIVER PROFESSIONAL VOCAL PERFORMANCES BY KURT DUSTERBERG ⅼ PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA MASTER CHORALE
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radley Layton is an epidemiologist.
says Layton, who played piano as a child
large performance group rehearses every
His work days are spent pouring
and sang in his collegiate choir. “I needed
Tuesday. On a performance week, they
through data science and
it as part of my day. I needed to have
meet as many as six nights. “I have such
biostatistics, evaluating the safety of new
something that wasn’t just sitting with a
appreciation for them and the sacrifices
medications. But when it’s time to call it a
textbook, studying on my own.”
and the commitments they make,” says
day, he has his go-to stress reliever. “I get
Sturgis, a Cary resident. “We have a lot of
in my car and drive away, and I have
educators. I don’t know how you get out of
25–30 minutes,” he says. “Then I show up
rehearsal at 10 o’clock at night, then you
and I get to sing for a couple of hours.”
have to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning
Layton is a member of the North
and teach kids all day. I really marvel at
Carolina Master Chorale, a 170-voice
folks like that. They really love it. And I’m
symphonic chorus, which serves as the
proud to say that what we have in Raleigh
resident chorus for the North Carolina
gives them opportunities a lot of other
Symphony. But the organization also
places can’t.”
produces a full season of its own projects, held at Duke Energy Center for the
Gina Difino sang in three choirs in Al Sturgis has served as the music
high school and continued in college.
Performing Arts’ Meymandi Concert Hall
director and conductor of the chorale
She joined the chorale in 2003 when she
and other venues. All of the vocalists are
since 1993, auditioning talent and staging
moved to the Triangle. “It’s something
volunteers, so performing with the chorale
as many as 40 performances per year
I knew I always wanted as part of my life,”
is an avocation for nearly all the members.
with different groupings of personnel
says Difino, who directs the study abroad
“I never thought music would be my
and musical styles. During the season,
programs and fellowships for the Honors
career, but I just couldn’t give it up,”
which runs September through May, the
Carolina program at the University of
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