‘I was always interested in music. I started singing in church a little bit growing up.’

Lynbrook

“I was always interested in music. I started singing in church a little bit growing up, and I met my first voice teacher that way, Julia Sergey. I remember after seeing Wicked’s ‘Defying Gravity,’ on Broadway, I was like, ‘Performing is incredible.’ I had this feeling of ‘I want to do this. I want to be onstage.’

“From then on out, I was always involved in my elementary school drama club, and then it became more serious. I’ve been a cantor at church since I was 12. Once I was in high school, I did all of Sacred Heart Academy’s theater programs. It was really exciting when I played Belle in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ my sophomore year, and I went on to do other leading roles in that.

“I’ve been in several summer programs at the Manhattan School of Music, Broadway Artists Alliance, LIU’s Summer Honors Institute for musical theater, the Oyster Bay Music Festival and the Queens Summer Vocal Institute. When I was 15, I started studying both classical and musical theater styles with my current voice teacher, Tammy Hensrud. Now, I’m a senior vocal performance major with minors in drama and musical theater.

I am passionate about a lot of different areas of theater and bringing stories to audiences who want to watch.

“At Hofstra, I feel I have the opportunity to really grow my classical voice and my interest in opera. I always knew I loved musicals and being onstage, but at Hofstra, I had the opportunity to be in several operas. This year, I just performed the lead role of Sesto in ‘La Clemenza di Tito.’ I feel it gave me an opportunity to really feel some growth vocally. Something else that I really loved being a part of at Hofstra is different ensemble works like chorale and chamber choirs as well as opera scenes.

“Everyone who’s a vocal performance major has to do recitals. I did one honors recital last year when I was a junior, and then I did my junior recital. For my senior year, I was very honored to receive the William B. Rosencrans Honors Recital, the highest-level recital for vocalists awarded to one person by the faculty.

“Now, I’m going to grad school at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. I’m just excited for the future. Opera is a very specific track, but I am passionate about a lot of different areas of theater and bringing stories to audiences who want to watch.”

Interviewed by Victoria Bell

‘Until I was 3, I could hear maybe 10 to 15 percent, but it was like hearing underwater.’

Lynbrook

“Until I was 3, I could hear maybe 10 to 15 percent, but it was like hearing underwater. I could hear vague musical vibrations coming out of audio speakers. When I was finally diagnosed, I had a surgical myringotomy to release fluid backup and, after that, was able to hear. Then I adapted, but what I did notice is that it made me very inhibited because I wasn’t speaking. I’d hold back emotion because I didn’t know how to express myself except through the music; this trailed me through my teens. I had to find alternative ways to understand, perceive, communicate. I started taking lessons when I was 7, and two and a half years later, I went through all the method books and was playing Chopin. Although the piano is an instrument, it is also a tool of communication. Why do I think out of the box to that extent? It could have to do with my roots because I had a handicap of not hearing when I was a child. Music became my ally, and thinking out of the box on how to communicate has been important to me.

“As a professor at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College since 1999, teaching is very important because of the traditions handed down to me. The way my life has evolved, as I get older, the more I realize what we do is not truly about us. It’s about our legacy. There were so many musicians, so many pianists, and I love playing the traditional classic music. I’ve also composed original music and arrangements and have my own piano concerto, ‘Three Reflections,’ that will get premiered in November. I’ve always felt as though, rather than swimming in a pool with all the fish, how can I create my own pool and swim in it and bring other fish into my pool? How will that impact future musicians and audiences? It’s a combination of embracing the past, but also embracing the future and making things happen in the present so that they have that impact. That to me is very important as a musician.

“There were moments of inspiration that became the seeds for going further in my early years. My mother used to sing along to records, which became part of my consciousness. My father loved music, especially ‘Rhapsody in Blue,’ which became one of my trademark pieces. My oldest sister played piano, and she inspired me just in the way she played it, so much emotion that stayed with me.”

‘My grandmother’s sister played by ear, and she never took a lesson, which also inspired me.’

“One of the earliest moments where I felt that I wanted to do this, and that music chose me, was a recording of Vladimir Horowitz playing Beethoven’s “Appassionata Sonata in F Minor.” I was 7, and perhaps it spoke to me because there was such inner turmoil that Beethoven felt when he realized he was growing increasingly deaf. My grandmother’s sister played by ear, and she never took a lesson, which also inspired me.

“Part of my work as a pianist is playing the traditional repertoire, but the other part has been in cultivating new music. I’ve raised $750,000 for over a dozen composers, with over 77 orchestras taking part in these projects, bringing new works for piano and orchestra into the world. One reason I wanted to create commissioning projects with living composers is, I could never ask Beethoven certain questions that I can ask a living composer, and I felt it part of my earthly duty to help foster the creation of new works for piano and orchestra and chorus. I felt as though it was important to have this for the future, like 50 years from now, for pianists as they look back to 2000, 2010, 2025 and find all these pieces that are there for them to perform. Otherwise, you’re just going to be living in a museum, which is wonderful, but is no guarantee to sustaining the evolution of audiences. You have to have new pieces.

“There are people playing interesting new music, so we need to embrace that. This new 50-state project I’m doing, based around the centennial of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” in 2024, is very dear to me because my father loved that piece. I remember when he heard me play it and said, ‘You finally got it!’ The 50-state project is for Peter Boyer’s ‘Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue.’ My teacher, Adele Marcus, used to say, ‘There are no substitutions for living, and when you get older, it’ll come out of your fingers.’ I always feel that everything about the person comes out in how they play, and I teach that way, too. My teaching is that we play piano from our body, not from our fingers, which is where we sing when we practice and how we feel.”

Interviewed by Liza Burby

‘We met and were literally with each other for two months and got married. We really wanted to find love and found it in the most unexpected place.’

Lynbrook

“My husband, Steven, and I went to Oceanside High School together. He was dating a friend of mine. I knew of him, and he knew of me. We went to school in the ’90s. It was not usual for Italians, Irish or other Caucasians to date Spanish, much less Indian people. That was foreign. He was dating a nice Italian girl who happened to be my friend. We never spoke. We ran into each other on the last day of school as he was leaving and I was just coming in, which was very coincidental.

“Fast forward to 2009, we were both finishing up being 29, met at a restaurant in Oceanside and both didn’t want to be there, but very glad we were. We met and were literally with each other for two months and got married. We wanted to find love and found it in the most unexpected place.

I never felt racism until I got married.

“I came to this country in 1984. My parents wanted to come here like everybody else—for more freedom. My parents didn’t want us living in India where arranged marriages happen. Unfortunately, we lost our visa after six years. I decided to be very honest because we were getting serious with each other. At that time, I was considered a Dreamer under DACA. He wanted to help me because he loved me. I got my citizenship through this man that also gave up the world for me.

“His parents didn’t take it so well. They said ‘this girl was no good, was using him and was going to ruin his life.’ He said ‘this was what he was going to do because he was the happiest with me.’ I never felt racism until I got married. I didn’t know what the problem was. They made sure I knew I wasn’t Italian or American, but I certainly felt American. I was here long enough and had been working since I was 14. I did what I was always supposed to do.

“After I had my son, I didn’t want to go back to the city to work in television because the hours were grueling. He pulled $5,000 from his annuity to start Gourmet Ghee Company—the ideas were mine, but the money was all him. I said I wanted the business to be like our marriage. We wanted it to be the best of both worlds. I think we kind of changed the world. After us, so many people we know got into interracial relationships. It was actually a good thing. I hope we set a good trend.”

‘For those of us that were there, it’s an anniversary every day. Each day I think about something from that day. I tell everyone to live their day as if it is their last.’

Lynbrook

“On the morning of September 11th, I worked on the 87th floor of One World Trade, north tower, at the May Davis Group, a retail investment banking firm. I was a little late that day because Monday Night Football was the night before. I got to work at 8:30. There were 13 of us at the office at the time. I started my day drinking my coffee and checking emails. At 8:46, the first plane hit about 12 floors above us. At the point of impact, the building swayed about 10 feet to the left. I was holding on to my desk thinking the building was going to tip over. That was really scary. When it swayed back, none of us had any idea what had happened, we just saw debris pouring out from above. We didn’t see any flames, so we thought maybe a pipeline had exploded, not that a plane had hit right above us.

“After about 10 minutes, the smoke started pouring in. It was getting too heavy to stay, so a bunch of us tried to find objects to break the windows and get fresh air into the building. Finally, we decided to get out of there. We formed a chain and went out a back exit because the floor had collapsed at the front exit. As we worked our way down, there was a gentleman sitting who was having a hard time breathing. Our head trader, Harry Ramos, stayed with the gentleman, and insisted that we keep going. He said he would stay behind with him. The man’s name turned out to be Victor. Harry is the only person May Davis lost that day.

“As we got to floor 40, we started to see the firemen coming up. We were clapping and cheering them on, still having no idea what had happened. When cell service returned, we started hearing rumors about the Sears Tower and Empire State Building getting hit. It was a hidden blessing that we had no idea. It was orderly. There were times we were walking under fire, and office workers in suits and ties were hosing down the fires on the ceiling so you could walk under it.

“While we were in the stairwell, the South Tower got hit. We had no idea about that either. In the lobby we finally knew something horrible was going on. The first thing we heard was ‘Don’t look left! Go down this stairway and exit underground.’ Of course, we all had to look left.

We made our way down into the mall and toward Church Street. As we got out, we heard a loud rumble; I looked back and saw the south tower coming down.

“That’s where all the jumpers were landing, right outside the glass door. I will never forget the sounds of it. It turned out to be hundreds of people that jumped. The look of helplessness on the FBI agents every time someone hit; there was nothing those people could do but jump or burn. The floor inside by us had a foot of water from the sprinklers. Firemen, secret service, FBI were everywhere.

“We made our way down into the mall and toward Church Street. As we got out, we heard a loud rumble; I looked back and saw the south tower coming down. It was 100 yards away. I froze until it was halfway down, thinking, ‘This isn’t real.’ Then my brain said to move. I jumped under a Borders Books awning. The steel beams were landing right outside the overhang, so it turned out to be the best thing that I did. Two other people jumped under after me, and we started praying and screaming. The huge cloud buried us. It went from really loud sounds to pitch black and silence.

“We thought we were dead. We got up and walked around the debris, coughing and throwing up from the dust. I was outside when the north tower collapsed, so then another dust cloud came over. I ran a bit up north by Washington Square Park and found a reporter by City Hall. She explained what was going on and let me use her phone to call my mother. That’s when I first broke down. For the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, the reporter found me and played a tape of our conversation. I lost it again.

“I lived in Jersey at the time of 9/11, so I made my way to Battery Park where they were running ferries back to Hoboken. I was covered in dust with my clothes ripped. I took my train home and found my mother sitting at the train station, where she had been waiting for me for four hours. I lost it yet again. Later, we discovered that Harry didn’t get out. The last time he and Victor were seen they were somewhere near the thirtieth floor. They almost made it down. When they found Harry and Victor’s remains, they were still together. Their names are on panel N-63 of the memorial together. The families wanted them to be next to each other, so it’s pretty cool that Harry is still with Victor and still stayed by his side.

I felt I had to do more with my second chance. I owe it to Harry and all these other people. I’m still in banking, but instead of living off people, I help my employees and clients grow their careers and do better for their families.

“The hardest thing for me was the survivor’s guilt. I still have it, but I don’t dwell on it as much. At the time, I was a 28-year-old punk kid being a stockbroker. Why the hell did I get out and all these amazing people didn’t? Mothers, fathers, Harry… Why didn’t I tell Harry to go and I’d stay behind? He had a family, including a newborn. He stayed behind with a complete stranger. There was nothing I could have done, but the guilt is still there. Nobody got out above the point of impact.

“The media has stopped talking about those people, and they’re heroes. They made their choice how to go. My heart breaks for them. I try to turn my experience into a positive. In high school, my dream was to be a stockbroker, to be on Wall Street, and to make millions of dollars. After 9/11, I lost that fire. I felt I had to do more with my second chance. I owe it to Harry and all these other people. I’m still in banking, but instead of living off people, I help my employees and clients grow their careers and do better for their families.

“I had heartburn for years afterwards; I was diagnosed with GERD, which is when the esophagus is damaged and it can form cancer. It turns out it is the number one side effect for 9/11 survivors. I’m on a prescription that is controlling and reversing it, so I dodged a bullet twice. So many people are getting sick from it now.

“For those of us that were there, it’s an anniversary every day. Each day I think about something from that day. Twenty years went by quickly. I still carry my May Davis ID in my wallet to remember. Every year I go to the memorial and pay respects. It’s healing to me to pause and reflect, and to realize how lucky I am. I tell my 6-year-old kids that daddy worked in that building and something bad happened. I say that daddy is lucky to be here. My kids and I always thank firemen, policemen and soldiers when we see them.

“I tell everyone to live their day as if it is their last. When I went to work that day, I had fought with my girlfriend that morning. I had never told my mother how I loved her and how much she meant to me. Love your family, love your friends, and make sure they know. Do everything to its fullest.”