Emerald Becker, Alto (President)Emerald is an also originally from the Bay Area. She moved to Washington, DC in 2008 to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA and then stayed for graduate school at American University in which she earned a master's degree in international education. Her biggest claim to fame is playing the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music three months after her bat mitzvah.
Sarah is a DC transplant originally hailing from sunny SoCal. After spending several years pursuing a non-musical career, she decided to accept her true calling as a dancer and singer. When she’s not happily contributing to Makela, she can be found teaching brave souls how to dance, taking full advantage of happy hours, and refusing to accept real winter weather.
Andrew sings bass for Makela. Originally from Baltimore, Andrew lives in an old bungalow in Takoma Park. After film school at NYU and a 6-year stint running sound on film shoots in LA, Andrew changed his focus to environmental policy and advocating for sustainable energy. Back on the East Coast, with a law degree from University of Maryland, Andrew now works on clean energy policy. When not working or singing, Andrew enjoys endless home restoration projects, often involving heavy machinery and/or dangerous chemicals.
This is Noah's third time living in DC, and this time he's in Petworth. During the day, he lobbies for reproductive rights and better drug policy. Way back when, he sang for the Yale Spizzwinks (?), the second oldest a capella group in the nation, and did some chazanut and is excited to be performing again. He also enjoys watching Joss Whedon shows and deconstructing them, and good beer and music with friends.
Matt is a displaced Michigander who grew up primarily in North Cackalacky (that's North Carolina for the uninitiated/less goofy). A self-described "linguidork extraordinaire," he decided to move up to D.C. for graduate school once he discovered that his passion for Linguistics and communication could actually get him somewhere. He fell in love with D.C. and has remained there ever since, in spite of a nearly hour-long commute to his current job as a proposal writer for government contracts. When not singing, playing piano/keyboards, strumming the guitar (poorly), or otherwise performing music, Matt can usually be found accosting his knees running up (and down) the trails of Rock Creek Park, doing the Scrabble Grams in the Express, and/or further cultivating his ever-expanding and completely useless knowledge of random music facts/trivia.
Deb Sager, Soprano Deb is a DC area native. (Yes. They do exist.) She sings soprano (most of the time) and recently moved down from the Boston area. Up there, she sang Jewish a cappella with the group Honorable Menschen. When not singing, she extols the virtues of the Red Sox and Nationals - which takes a little extra effort - and feeds her cat.
Rachel Samuelson, Tenor
Rachel proudly hails from Denver, Colorado, having moved to DC after graduating from Bucknell University in December 2009. Though limited in formal musical training, she has enjoyed signing female vocals around the DC party circuit, and is a fan favorite (presumably) among those lucky neighbors who can hear her through her apartment walls. Rachel sings anything in Makela from Alto parts to Tenor. When she isn't belting out jazzy bass lines, Rachel can be found learning how to play guitar and hunting down the next best sushi restaurant.
Joel Singerman, Tenor
Joel has years of (random) music experience - ranging from private singing lessons to musical theater and choirs to some truly epic karaoke wins. He's currently leveraging the knowledge he gained from the four music theory classes he took twelve years ago to help Makela fulfill its potential. For him, the people truly make Makela what it is.
Jenni Stoff Sood, SopranoJenni is originally from Columbus, Ohio, which makes her eminently loveable. She’s a peacemaker at heart, which has influenced her professional career in human rights and social equity policy (for DC government, on the Hill, and with nonprofit organizations), and personal passion for issues involving diversity and multiculturalism. You will find Jenni frequently attempting the following activities: finding the coolest new Logan Circle hangout for a glass of wine with friends, being a perpetual (though not yet successful) Yente, gazing at Whole Foods produce displays, speaking remedial Spanish, perfecting her downward dog, making an effort to finish lots of halfway-through books, and attempting to stay on key for the sake of her fellow Makela singers.
Becky sings alto and sometimes tenor in Makela. She is also a D.C. native. And ever since she can remember, she's been doing something musical, whether that's singing with her sisters, playing the piano, doing a cappella in college, or strumming the uke. On the side, she works doing, you know, policy stuff.
Special Thanks and Well Wishes to All Our Former Members:
Karin Shmueli, Danny Kaplow, Josh Langer, Kelly Rubin, Sara Sirota, Jon Wood, Jerry Marzouk, Tsvi Aranoff, Megan Brudney, Ben Rotenberg (9/00- 8/01), Julie Becker (3/01 - 8/01), Alisa Abrams (9/01-2/04), Ilana Fisher (9/01 - 10/03), Jesse Grauman (9/01 - 10/03), David Barak (9/01 - 10/03), Juliet Friedman (11/99 - 8/04), Evonne Marzouk (2/99 - 8/04), Steve Sax (2/99 - 11/04), Dan Davidson (2/99 - 12/04), Jay Wolman (10/03 - 2/06), Esther Oakley (10/03 - 6/04), Rachel Millstein (3/04 - 8/05), Jesse Mendelson (3/04 - 6/04), Naomi Silberg (6/04 - 8/04), Robert Tanenbaum (7/04 - 9/04), Debbie Shapiro (8/04 - 8/07), Naomi Korb (12/04 - 7/05), Daniel Garcia-Pedrosa (2/05 - 8/06), Aviva Braun (2/05 - 6/05), Stephanie Green (7/05 - 1/06), Laura Marlin (9/05 - 2/06), Shannon Sarna (9/05 - 11/05), Miriam Gardin (11/05 - 1/06), Rebecca Israel (11/05 - 8/06), Eric Seader (3/06 - 9/07), Daria Gelman (7/06 - 10/07), Allison Talansky (Zmirnotes – 6/08), Ray Kuo (3/06 – 6/08), Hannah Druckman (10/07 – 6/08), Elisabeth Stein (2/06 – 7/08), Josh Neiderman (8/08-7/09), Michael Braun, Jenny Cohen, Natania Gazek, Stu Levy, Shelley Rood, Ariela Fleisig, Dan Ross (09/12-06/13), Aviv Sarel (10/12-10/13), Dani Tor ( - 2013), Sarah Muntzing (2013 - 2014), Ilya Khazanov (2013-2014).
