The Singers of Nevenka

Trudy Israel, Founder and Director Emeritus

Trudy Israel has been passionate about Eastern European music throughout her adult life. She danced and sang with the Aman Folk Ensemble for eight years, performed with the Nama Folk Orchestra for six years, studied Greek music with Marika Psihountas and later sang with her in the Paradosi Greek Ensemble. Trudy feels particularly fortunate to have been studying Bulgarian music with Tzvetanka Varimezova since 2001. In 1976 Trudy co-founded Nevenka East European Folk Ensemble.  As Artistic Director she has produced numerous performances and five CDs, organized collaborations with other world music artists, and has taken the group on domestic and international music tours. She has traveled to Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria and the Republic of Georgia to learn the music and enjoy the cultures of Eastern Europe.  Trudy’s recording experience includes vocal tracks on the soundtrack for the television series Xena: Warrior Princess, the video game Might and Magic, and background tracks on various CD recording projects. She has taught Balkan singing workshops throughout the United States and France and has been a guest lecturer at several university world music classes. Trudy is one of the two singers (along with Nevenka member Susie North) who recorded the well-known Nama Lesnoto Medley, danced to by folk enthusiasts worldwide.

Jennifer Jurick, Director

Jennifer Jurick’s love of music began at an early age, and many of her childhood memories involve dance productions, school musicals, Girl Scout campfires, and children’s choirs. She credits her father’s passion for classical music, and her mother’s encouragement with piano lessons, as major influences on her early musical education.  Jennifer found her way into Nevenka in 1999, via the international folk dance communities in Los Angeles and Eugene, Oregon. She has studied Balkan music and dance with Carol Silverman, Mark Levy, Rachel MacFarlane, Kate Conklin, Sandy Allman and Tzvetanka Varimezova. In 2004 Jennifer became the Assistant Director of Nevenka, with a focus on the organizational side of the group. In 2018 she and Trudy became Co-directors of the choir. Jennifer also performs regularly with Jouyssance Early Music Ensemble, a Los Angeles choir dedicated to music composed before 1650. She works professionally as a writer and graphic designer, and loves to garden in her free time.

Jessica Ng, Assistant Director

Jessica Ng's earliest musical memory is attending Cantonese opera performances in the San Gabriel Valley. Her mother was a soloist with a local group, and Jessica would doze off during the very long performances only to be awakened at the end to go up on stage in her frilly dress to present her mother with flowers. She sang throughout high school and college in a cappella choirs and developed a love for making music with others. While at UCLA, she encountered professor and renowned Bulgarian musician Tzvetanka Varimezova and joined her group, Superdevoiche. Jessica loves singing with Nevenka because of the beautiful music, and because she believes in the tradition of women of all ages harmonizing together. An avid traveler, she has toured with Superdevoiche and/or Nevenka in Bulgaria three times, studied music and dance traditions in Sardinia and Georgia (the country), and performs as a guest artist in Paris with the Balkan ensemble Djanam. Jessica is an early childhood educator and she regularly integrates music into her students' daily activities. When she’s not singing or teaching, she enjoys baking and practicing aerial arts.

Ronda Berkeley

Ronda Berkeley cultivates and applies a unique visual and contextual aesthetic to theatrical experiences in multiple disciplines as a dramaturg, director, choreographer and performer. During her tenure as Associate Artistic Director of AMAN World Music and Dance, the company was a recipient of the Lester Horton Award for Production of Multi-Cultural Dance and Music.  As dramaturg and artistic associate for Walden Family Playhouse, she developed original live stage productions and accompanying educational collateral that continue to be featured across the country in venues like Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center, San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre, Denver’s Walden Family Playhouse and published by World Book Kids Dramatic Learning. Ronda has provided creative leadership on projects for institutions like The Leela Institute for the Arts, Chhandam School of Kathak, Los Angeles City College, The Odyssey Theatre, and Explore & More Children's Museum in Buffalo and contributed to works for events like the Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival, the Koprivchitsa Festival, the Utah Jazz Festival, the People’s Choice Awards and the Festival of Sacred Music. In television and film, Ronda successfully developed dozens of entertainment properties including Golden Globe winner DIRTY PICTURES for Showtime, and served as SVP Legal Clearance for Paramount Global. She has performed as a percussionist and singer with the Mamak Khadem Ensemble and UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s Super Devoiche and loves the sisterhood she shares with the Nevenka Folk Ensemble.

Megan Bomba

Growing up as the daughter of a music-teacher, Megan was exposed to global music at an early age. She gravitated to Balkan music early, learning Macedonian favorite "Shto Mi E Milo" with her mom while still in elementary school and was collecting editions of "Les Mysteres des Voix Bulgares" when her peers were listening to Green Day and Alanis Morisette. She developed a love for vocals while singing in her high school chamber at the Marlborough School and sang with an early music ensemble at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music while in college. She never forgot that love of the Balkan sound, and upon returning to Los Angeles joined the Superdevoiche group at UCLA under the direction of Tsvetanka Varimezova. She sang with Superdevoiche intermittently from 2007 until 2020, and joined Nevenka in 2022. Megan also practices other global music and art, spending many years playing the piano, sitar, and capoeira. In her non-musical life Megan works in climate change mitigation and spends time in the outdoors and gardening.

Lauren Brinker

Lauren, a native Angeleno, joined Nevenka in 2019 after two decades of fantasizing about being part of an Eastern European vocal ensemble. Her musical interests are diverse, but her background is mostly in classical voice. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from UCSC, where she also did her Master of Music coursework. She has performed several operatic roles, sung two full-length recitals, worked as a soprano soloist in Catholic churches, and even conducted a Cole Porter musical. Lauren has taught voice professionally in elementary and middle schools; worked in music supervision, clearance and licensing for Warner Bros TV; established and manages a jazz music library; and is now pursuing a career in real estate. She is a mom, wife of a jazz drummer, budding songwriter, nascent guitar player and a surfing enthusiast.

Emi Macuaga

Emi Macuaga began singing in ensemble choirs when she was 8 years old, and stepped on her first world stage at 9 in a Teatro alla Scala production of La Bohème in Tokyo and Osaka. With a Bolivian father and Japanese mother, she went to the International School of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo and grew up listening to mom's classical favorites, dad's folk music, and plenty of American country & western. After earning her MFA at USC's School of Cinema-Television, she moved to New York in 2002, where she joined the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York. Under the mentorship of maestro Nikolai Kachanov, she studied a wide range of Slavic music and performed at venues including the Lincoln Center, St. John's Cathedral and Carnegie Hall. When she moved back to Los Angeles, Emi sang with Superdevojche at UCLA before joining Nevenka.  When not singing, Emi is an executive producer of reality TV shows, and a filmmaker with a penchant for projects featuring musicians.

Jessica Ng, Assistant Director

Jessica Ng's earliest musical memory is attending Cantonese opera performances in the San Gabriel Valley. Her mother was a soloist with a local group, and Jessica would doze off during the very long performances only to be awakened at the end to go up on stage in her frilly dress to present her mother with flowers. She sang throughout high school and college in a cappella choirs and developed a love for making music with others. While at UCLA, she encountered professor and renowned Bulgarian musician Tzvetanka Varimezova, and it wasn't long before she joined Tzvetanka's group Superdevoiche. She loves singing with Nevenka because of the beautiful music, and because she believes in the tradition of women of all ages harmonizing together. During her time in the group, Jessica has picked up the four-stringed Macedonian tambura, the mandolin and some accordion. An avid traveler, Jessica has toured with Superdevoiche and/or Nevenka in Bulgaria three times, and performs as a guest artist in Paris with the Balkan ensemble Djanam. Jessica is an early childhood educator. She and her students sing together on a regular basis – accompanied by her three-stringed cigar box guitar! When she’s not singing or teaching, she enjoys salsa dancing and practicing aerial arts.

Susie North

Susie North grew up in Los Angeles singing and acting and dancing for fun. In college she got hooked on Balkan folk dance, which led to a short stint with the Westwind International Folk Ensemble in the Bay Area, followed by a long stint with the Aman Folk Ensemble in Los Angeles.  A really fun offshoot of her Aman experience was singing duets with her amazing friend (and Nevenka director) Trudy Israel in Nama, a band that played live music for folk dancers. The Aman and Nama experiences both led to lots of recordings – in ever-evolving media, from LPs to cassettes to CDs.  After leaving Aman in the late 70s to start a family, Susie joined Nevenka in order to keep performing and recording Balkan music and to enjoy the company of other women who share her passion for these harmonies, rhythms and themes. Susie's musical experience has included teaching many workshops over the years. Her enjoyment of Balkan music led to wonderful travel experiences in Croatia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. The challenge of nailing the pronunciations and honing the stylings of this music has captivated her for over fifty years. Susie's early career was in early childhood education, as a teacher and administrator. She opened her mediation practice in 2007 and now divides her time doing conflict resolution, parent education, parent coaching, blogging, teaching school-age kids to be peer mediators, and volunteering with Southern California Family Mediation in the Child Dependency Courts. She is the author of The Opposite of COMBAT: A Parent's Guide for Teaching Siblings How to Collaborate & Solve Their Own Conflicts.

Shira O’Keefe

Shira O'Keefe grew up immersed in Balkan music and dance because her parents met in Aman Folk Ensemble. Her mother went on to be a founding member of Nevenka and then a brač player with Nevenka's tamburica orchestra. Since a lot of the rehearsals were at her house, Shira remembers falling asleep to the strains of the songs – and learning to curse like a musician. Besides music, Shira loved dance. First came ballet and then, in high school and college, musical theater. After college she went to New York where she performed professionally in musicals, even touring Europe. After that, she worked in advertising in NYC and then interior design in San Francisco. She finally returned to LA with her husband Jeff and son Owen, and joined Nevenka. This was a lifelong dream. Shira describes herself as a choral singer at heart; it's really all about singing together and making that blended sound. She also loves the multi-age aspect of Nevenka, and the variety of perspectives it brings: “Like a family, we take care of each other. We're a sisterhood!” Shira cherishes the way the members see each other through life's highs and lows. Shira currently works in education technology. She loves supporting schools in their very important work of educating and caring for all our kids. Coming full circle, now Shira's son falls asleep to the sounds of Nevenka rehearsals.

Terri Prizant

Terri Prizant danced, sang, and played world music as a longtime member of the Aman Folk Ensemble, from which Nevenka was born. She joined Nevenka over 20 years ago because she loved singing its world music repertoire and learning about the cultures. She has played the mandolin for many years, not only with Aman and Nevenka, but also in an all-girl country/folk/bluegrass group called Clementine and in the cover band Orphans of the Storm. Terri’s professional career has been and continues to be in television. She has worked as a Script Supervisor for network shows since the 90s, commencing with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Throughout her career she has been fortunate to work on many successful comedies, including The Drew Carey Show, The Nanny, The Wayans Brothers, The Big C, Two Broke Girls, Mike and Molly, The Soul Man, and The Conners.

Rebecca Stout

At the young age of six, Rebecca Stout began performing harmony vocals and selling homemade 45’s in exchange for Barbie doll money. She traveled throughout the southeast U.S. performing with her mother at music festivals, dance halls and senior centers. Growing up near Nashville, Tennessee, she became a sought-after background singer, harmony arranger and session vocalist. Over the past 40 years, Rebecca has worked with numerous leading artists including Robert Earl Keen, Roseanne Cash, Ed Dye, Ronnie McCoury, Roy, Victor and Reggie Wooten, and Ricky Lee Jones. She is a featured artist in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. Rebecca currently resides in Los Angeles, and she has been performing with Nevenka since 2003. She teaches old-time harmony singing and Appalachian flatfoot dance in Culver City’s Afterschool Cornucopia program. She has taught at Julian Family Fiddle Camp, Mendocino Folklore Camp, Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week at Mars Hill University and Big Sur, and Walker Creek Music camps.

Anna Talpe

Anna Talpe is a French-born singer-songwriter whose musical journey has spanned continents and genres, culminating in a captivating blend of jazz, folk, indie, and alternative music. Born and raised in France, Anna discovered her passion for singing upon moving to the United States at the age of 15. Anna embarked on a transformative journey at Berklee College of Music, where she pursued a degree in jazz vocals. During her time at Berklee, she explored diverse musical territories, delving into Balkan and Indian music, harmonizing in choirs, and lending her vocals as a mesmerizing backdrop to pop, jazz, and folk bands. The rich and varied experiences she encountered shaped her artistic identity and broadened her creative palette. Following her graduation, Anna channeled her knowledge and love for music into teaching. From offering private voice lessons in the Boston area to nurturing young talents in a private middle and high school in Peru, and teaching music through a non-profit organization in Honduras, she found joy and fulfillment in sharing her expertise with others. Now based in Los Angeles, Anna has returned to her artistic roots, dedicating herself wholeheartedly to crafting soul-stirring compositions and heartfelt lyrics. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, her poetic songwriting intertwines with intricate melodies, creating a refreshing and captivating sound.

Robin Van Zak

Robin Van Zak discovered Balkan music in 1968, when she started folk dancing at Café Danssa in Los Angeles. Fueled by her love of travel and world cultures, she became a travel agent in 1973. She performed with Slaveja, the vocal group for Avaz dance troupe, directed by renowned ethnomusicologist Anthony Shay. Robin joined Nevenka in 1987 and has sung continuously with the group ever since (minus an 18 month trip around the world in 1989). Robin has also performed with the Verdi Chorus since 1997, and is on their Board of Directors.  When not singing or traveling the world, she dabbles in fiber arts and other creative endeavors.

Molly White Clark

Molly started playing the violin at the tender age of 6, and by the time she got to college was ready for guitar and other stringed instruments. It was time to branch out and discover new genres. She performed in many choirs throughout her school years including a madrigal group, church choirs and the university concert chorale, and she performed faithfully in a Latin American ensemble, a Mariachi ensemble, and several Balinese and Javanese ensembles.  Molly earned a masters in Ethnomusicology, taught many performing workshops and classes at the University of New Mexico, UT Austin, created the World Music program for many years at LA Trade Tech College, and taught harmony singing at Walker Creek Folk Music camp. In 2006 Molly attended a Nevenka concert and was immediately hooked!  She now sings and plays violin and changuri (the Georgian guitar) for Nevenka, has helped deliver several lectures on Balkan Music to world music classes at Occidental College, and co-produced Nevenka’s fifth CD, Whispers from the Mountains. Molly is the Co-Director for the Suzuki Music Program of LA, where she teaches children Appalachian fiddle, Suzuki repertoire classes, and beginning music theory.  She is also an early childhood music specialist at several Santa Monica preschools, and offers group music classes to preschoolers through her children’s music project peachandspoon.com. When she is not singing, playing or teaching, she can be found traveling, reading, speaking Spanish, camping where there are trees, and tentatively swimming in rivers and lakes!

Leslie Yeseta

Leslie Yeseta's earliest memory is falling asleep to the strains of live tamburitza music. Her dad Chris Yeseta, part of a family of tamburitza musicians, hosted countless Aman band rehearsals in the family living room. Folk music of the Balkans and Middle East comprised the soundtrack of Leslie's early years. It wasn't long before her dad showed her a few chords on guitar – and Leslie took it from there. She is largely self-taught. From middle school through college, Leslie sang in various choirs. She went on to sing in rock bands, first as a singer and later providing accompaniment on both rhythm guitar and mandolin. Leslie loves singing with Nevenka because she says it's good for the soul. She accompanies Nevenka on guitar, bouzouki, and tambura, and she recently took on duties directing Nevenka's orchestra. She also performs with The Swing Riots (vocals and guitar). In the past few years, Leslie has been developing a solo career – providing a unique brew of her own compositions laced with personally curated cover songs – in local clubs and cafes. A veterinary nurse, Leslie lovingly cares for a variety of animals, from the usual cats and dogs to farm animals such as chickens, ducks and rabbits, and including “exotics” like monkeys, hornbills, toucans, iguanas, chameleons, skunks – and even a hedgehog!