About The Project

Elisabeth Halliday-Quan and Zach Herchen created the Emerging Voices Project to commission, perform, and record music for voice and saxophone.  The project was inspired by Lori Laitman's "I Never Saw Another Butterfly", a musical setting of poetry written by Jewish children who lived in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.  In 2011 we selected composers Kathleen Bader, Amy Beth Kirsten, Adam Knauss, and George Lam to write pieces based on the themes of childhood and loss of innocence. We raised funds on Kickstarter and recorded the commissioned works by Kathleen Bader, Adam Knauss, and George Lam alongside Lori Laitman's piece. These four works are released on our self-published CD Emerging Voices.

After the CD release, we performing along the East Coast presenting our commissioned works, including Amy Beth Kirsten's new piece Fire Balloon.

To purchase a copy of Emerging Voices, visit http://www.zachherchen.com/store/.
To join our mailing list or just say hi, send an email to: emergingvoicesproject@gmail.com

About Us:

Elisabeth Halliday - soprano
Elisabeth Halliday completed her undergraduate work at the Johns Hopkins University and at the Peabody Conservatory, where she performed such roles as “Susanna” in Le Nozze di Figaro and “Anne” in A Little Night Music. While at Peabody, Elisabeth premiered three chamber operas, participated in Peabody’s “24-Hour Composition Marathon,” gave a recital of Modern and Contemporary vocal music in English, and was one of the founding members of No Signal, a chamber group dedicated to performing contemporary classical music in unique and engaging ways. In 2007, Elisabeth moved to New York to study with Manhattan School of Music’s Ashley Putnam. Elisabeth currently sings with the Chelsea Opera and Rhymes With Opera.

Zach Herchen - saxophone
Based in New York City, saxophonist Zach Herchen performs contemporary, jazz, and rock music. Zach has premiered works at New England Conservatory, Duke University, Stanford University, NYC, Stockholm, and Venice. He has also performed with groups at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center. Zach is constantly working with composers and has premiered over 30 pieces. He was a participant in the 4th International Master-Class for Classical Saxophone and was a 2008 artist-in-resident at Wildacres Retreat. Zach holds a MM and BM in Saxophone Performance from The Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he was a recipient of the Richard Franko Goldman Prize for performance. Zach has studied with Gary Louie, Gary Thomas, Timothy McAllister, Arno Bornkamp, Vincent David, Jan Schulte-Bunert, and Ties Mellema.