"Imagine a chorus created for those of us who are touched by breast cancer."

P.O. Box 81761
Chicago, IL 60681
773.250.SING
info@singtolive.org

About Sing to Live

About the Chorus

The Sing to Live Community Chorus was created to provide a musical outlet that celebrates hope and survival for singers whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. In addition, we provide the gift of music to the breast cancer community by, in part, offering complimentary concert tickets and performance CDs to breast cancer survivors.

We welcome singers, both men and women, who have a strong passion for our mission, a personal connection to breast cancer, and who love to sing. Breast cancer survivors and singers who have immediate family members affected by breast cancer are given priority to open choral positions.
 

About the Founder and President

In August 2004, Melinda Pollack-Harris, the founder and President of Sing to Live – Live to Sing, NFP, was diagnosed with breast cancer. With an excellent prognosis and all major treatments behind her, she decided to make a positive situation out of a negative one. Ms. Pollack-Harris has sung in community choruses for many years and found great joy from these and other musical experiences. She believes that music can provide a source of comfort and healing for people touched by adversity. With this, the idea for a community chorus created especially for a group of very special people—those touched by breast cancer—was born.
 

About the Artistic Director and Conductor

Wilbert O. Watkins, Ph.D. brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Sing to Live Community Chorus. Dr. Watkins was past director of Unison with the Windy City Performing Arts in Chicago. He was part of the teaching faculties of Northern Illinois University and DePaul University and previously held the position of Director of Choral Activities and Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa. He has taught as both a choral music educator and an applied voice teacher in Texas, Florida, Iowa, and Illinois. Dr. Watkins currently teaches voice privately and serves as Chancel Choir Director at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Oak Park and serves as Artistic Director for the Lutheran Choir of Chicago.

Dr. Watkins studied with Rodney Eichenberger and André Thomas at Florida State University, where he earned a Ph.D. in music education and conducting. He has served as a clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor in the South and Midwest, Puerto Rico, and in the Orient. Watkins has also sung with the Fort Worth Renaissance Consort, Schola Cantorum of Texas, and the Ft. Worth and Dallas Opera choruses. His other accolades include serving as chorus master for Giovanni Bertolani's Matilde, performing in master class with Paul Plishka, performing under the baton of Fiora Contino and the late Robert Shaw, with whom he also served as diction coach for his last performance of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem. He has guest lectured in music literacy, vocal diction, and music education.
 

About the Accompanist

Joan Hutchinson earned a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and a Master of Music from American Conservatory of Music. She also studied organ and piano for one year at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. She served churches in Boston, Southeastern Ohio, and the Joliet area before coming to Pilgrim Congregational Church UCC, Oak Park, IL in 1983. At Pilgrim, Joan is Minister of Music. She is involved in worship planning and administering choral and instrumental music ministries. In addition to playing the organ and piano for worship, Joan accompanies the Chancel Choir, sings in the Gospel Choir, and directs the Primary and Treble Choirs. She has taught piano privately since 1976.