Bass singer who acquired much of his musical education from Robert Shaw during his tenure with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Other conductors with whom he has worked include Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. He is also a member of The Philadelphia Singers, the chorus-in-residence of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Ivan has recorded several albums on Telarc that have gone on to win Grammy awards.
In recent years, he has been busy with a trio named Follow the Drinking Gourd, and they specialize in bringing to life black history and music at cultural centers such as Croft Farm, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, The Library @East Brunswick, Looking Glass Pond, the Princeton Public Library, and the Westfield Memorial Library. The threesome, which gets its name from an Underground Railroad song, is rounded out by Diane Goldsmith at the keys, and one of two sopranos, usually Shannon Hunt, but sometimes Julie-Ann Whitely.
Sources:
- http://www.classicalmusicphiladelphia.com/root.htm
- http://www.newbrunswick.com/content.php?content=event&action=prev&month=03&year=2010&id=521
- http://www.atlantasingers.org/history.html
- http://ruevents.rutgers.edu/events/displayEventList.html?region=P&displayDate=2/7/2010
- http://www.cherryhill-nj.com/news.asp?intArticleID=507&intCategoryID=55
- http://www.goleader.com/09feb19/11.pdf
- http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.net/about_us.htm
- http://www.petermotthouse.org/news/drinkinggourd.html
- http://www.petermotthouse.org/news/Gourdperformances.html
- http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.net/Audience%20Response.htm
- https://www.ebpl.org/main/polImage.cfm?doc_Id=4878&size_code=Doc