Medium: 15th- and 16th-century music a cappella
Location: MUNY
Email: jhetland@nyc.rr.com
Phone: 212-989-7606
Website: http://www.streetsingers.org/
Bio: (John Hetland, director) We perform in any place that’s reasonably quiet and has people passing by, preferably with a wall behind us to reflect the sound. Some of our favorite spots are Christopher Street near Bleecker in the West Village, Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, Central Park tunnels and walkways, and the stone steps in Fort Tryon Park.

Video Link: http://www.streetsingers.org/rssonchristopherv3.mov

When I came to New York in 1965 I wanted to join a chorus of some sort. Someone told me about The Renaissance Chorus. It had been started about 1950 at the High School of Music and Art by the composer Harold Brown, a pioneer of early music in America who, among other accomplishments, introduced Noah Greenberg to Renaissance music. When I joined the Renaissance Chorus (’65 or ’66) it was led by Joel Meltz, who revered Harold Brown almost as a god. People generally either were devoted to Joel or couldn’t stand him. He had a notion that singers should look at the conducter all the time, not just sometimes, and should sing absolutely perfectly in tune. He ascribed near magical qualities to in-tune intervals, particularly solid fifths and bright major thirds. He believed Renaissance music, properly deployed, could end wars and change the world. When I first joined we met in the basement of the Washington Square Methodist Church on West Fourth Street, later at Joel’s slum dwelling on East Fifth Street. We didn’t have many singing gigs, but from time to time we would go out in the neighborhood and sing for passers-by. I thrived on it. I was devoted to Joel. Years later, when I started my own group, singing in the street seemed the obvious way to find an audience.