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Nearly two years ago, Dominic Lam first heard the Westminster Choir perform at the American Choral Directors Association’s (ACDA) National Conference in Dallas.  Today, as a second-year member of the ensemble, he’s preparing to depart on a concert tour of California.

A native of Hong Kong, Dominic traveled to Dallas in 2013 to perform with the Asia Pacific Youth Choir (APYC) at the ACDA Conference.  Composed of singers from the Asia-Pacific region selected by audition APYC’s members meet and perform in conjunction with major international choral festivals.  Since the singers are from many different countries, they gather for a week of intense rehearsals before performing at a festival.  Recalling some serious jet lag after arriving in Dallas, he says, “We all flew in from Asia and then had 33 hours of rehearsals in four days.” 

One of the interesting parts of being in the ensemble, which has multiple conductors from difference countries, is the opportunity to perform works and arrangements from the members’ homelands.  “I brought back a piece from the Philippines that I’d like to include in my graduate recital,” he says,

Being in APYC has also given him the chance to perform in new and different locations.  After singing with the Westminster Choir at the Spoleto Festival 91����A., this past summer he joined APYC to perform at the World Choral Symposium in South Korea.  And if that didn’t keep him busy enough, last summer he participated in SingFest, Hong Kong's first professional choral-orchestral summer festival, where he took conducting master classes with Rolf Beck, a student of Helmuth Rilling, SingFest’s co-founder. 

Dominic learned about Westminster from his friend Vivian Suen, a fellow member of the Hong Kong Children’s Choir (HKCC), who earned her master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the Choir College in 2014, and Kathy Fok, the HKCC conductor.  A 12-year member of HKCC, he recalls how much he and the other choir members enjoyed singing together. “When there was a school holiday, we actually looked forward to a nine-hour rehearsal,” he exclaims.    

He’s found that same love of choral music and hard work at Westminster.  “It’s great to be at Westminster,” he says. “The workload is so heavy, but people are so supportive.  The sense of community is ridiculously great.”

After he graduates, he wants to return to Hong Kong to share his love of choral music with others, noting that he’s fascinated by the power of singing in a choir.  He had a taste of sharing that love this summer when he managed to squeeze in some time to teach some of the HKYC’s 3,000 members.  (Yes – that’s 3,000!)  “I used some techniques that I learned at Westminster, he says.  “And they worked.”

Reflecting on his time at Westminster, Dominic says, “ What surprised me was how unique and different each choir is.  Everyone works in a very different way and dynamic.

In addition to singing with the Westminster Choir, he’s also a member of Westminster Kantorei, which specializes in early and contemporary music.  “The repertoire and tone quality that’s required are so different,” he says.  “ I’m trying to fit everything in this year.”

He’s also pleased to be the graduate assistant for Westminster Schola Cantorum, which is conducted by James Jordan. 

He says that his “most magical” moments have happened in the Westminster Symphonic Choir.  He likes to tell his non-Westminster friends, “I’m going to Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall – it’s just another school day,” he says with a smile.  He can’t wait to sing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 

“It’s not just about perfection – it’s more than that.  For student conductors, you really get to see how conductors outside of the school work.” he says.  “And seeing orchestral rehearsals is a whole other world.”  Looking at the 2014-15 Symphonic Choir schedule, he adds, “This year is ‘wow!’”