T-VOCE
Interested in Singing with T-VOCE? Registration will open again January 2025. Please email teenvoicesofthecityensemble@gmail.com if you would like to visit a rehearsal!
MISSION:
T-VOCE (Teen Voices of the City Ensemble) is a free, year long community youth choir that brings youth from all neighborhoods of Philadelphia together to find their voice and create community through music. We strive to create a liberating, inclusive, and accessible music making space where singers from all musical backgrounds are valued, affirmed, and can connect. We do this through in-depth, high quality, and sequential, choral music education that:
- Centers experiences in plural music teaching methods in repertoire of varied musical traditions, including those that reflect the world and identities of our participants
- builds upon the unique voices and strengths of our singers to help them grow in their vocal development and ensemble skills
- maintains high expectations and excellence to create a shared artistic product
- fosters singer resilience, self expression, risk taking, and agency
- partners with students to cultivate freedom with their own creativity and improvisation skills
In Philadelphia, we work to build supportive partnerships with school vocal music teachers at emerging vocal programs that offer opportunities to their singers outside of traditional, hierarchical or competitive festivals. We do this through site visits, performances, collaborations, and a yearly aural-oral traditional workshop called "Love City Sings!"
T-VOCE is a collaboration between ArtSmart, Opera Philadelphia, and Singing City.
In 2024, our members shared values and words that describe and guide our work.
QUICK FACTS:
- “voce” means “voice” in Italian, and is pronounced “Vo-chay”
- Contact us: teenvoicesofthecityensemble@gmail.com
- FREE! and no audition necessary! Register at the link above!
- Rehearsals: once a week on Saturdays, 10am-12pm at Friends Center (1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia) - Link to map
- Our season runs all year: we begin in mid-September and finish mid-May
- Concerts: typically we have 4-5 performances per year (Calendar linked here)
- All are welcome. T-VOCE is made up of students ages 13-19 who live in the city of Philadelphia from varying musical backgrounds, from our community of schools, churches, community colleges, universities, and beyond.
- Free voice lessons are available to some members of the ensemble via our partnership with ArtSmart
Meet the Team!
T-VOCE Conductor
Dr. Whitney Covalle is a singer, researcher, and choral music educator. Her research focuses on music education in the city with emphasis on engaging community expertise, the intersection of race and teaching music, and teaching in the aural-oral tradition. She is a post-doctoral research fellow in music education at Montclair State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate preservice music educators. Her dissertation research on Philadelphia experts teaching Black Gospel music was recently published in Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education (2022). Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Covalle was a choir director in public schools and community music organizations in urban settings for seventeen years, primarily in Chicago at Jones College Prep High School, a Chicago public high school, and Uniting Voices Chicago (Chicago Children’s Choir). Dr. Covalle has degrees from Michigan State University (BME), Westminster Choir College - Choral Emphasis (MME), and Temple University (PhD in Music Education) and the Urban Education Certificate from the College of Education and Human Development.
T-VOCE Accompanist
Julian Nguyen is an eclectic multi-genre pianist and vocalist. His formal training in classical and jazz piano—in combination with a wide range of experience in R&B, soul, pop, gospel, and musical theatre—has made him a versatile performer and skilled collaborator in the greater Philadelphia area. He frequently accompanies choral organizations and soloists across various age groups and styles and holds several accolades at the state and national levels. He is currently attending the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University to attain his B.M. in music education with a concentration in jazz piano and an emphasis on choral music. There, he is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA), and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).
Assistant Manager of Youth and Community Programs
Abby Weissman, Opera Philadelphia’s Assistant Manager of Youth and Community Programs, is a director, consent educator, arts administrator (and more!) based in Philadelphia, PA. She is a company member of Revolution Shakespeare, and a proud alumnus of Northwestern University and the Arden Professional Apprentice Program. Most recently, she has spent her time choreographing intimacy for theatres in the region, talking about sex and relationships at colleges across the country with Speak About It, and directing with the Vocal Academy of Opera in Bodrum, Turkey. Abby’s upcoming projects include Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea at Villanova University, Kiss Me Kate at West Chester University and Torch Song at 1812 Productions.
T-VOCE Coordinator
Liv Forney: A lifelong music lover and chorister, Liv graduated from University of Delaware’s School of Music in 2020 and has since worked across the region coordinating music in retail stores, lesson studios, record labels, and event venues. Aside from T-VOCE, Liv is also the program manager for Singing City and additionally works security at several music venues in Philly. Liv also serves as an Alto 2 and board secretary of Sine Nomine, a chamber choir based in Wilmington.