Keren Abreu (TC ’15)
Voice Part: Soprano II
Hometown: New York, New York
Major: French
Keren is the cutest of the cute, she puts the Prek in Prekhvrukna Ptichka, the Pik in Pikachu, and she can do runs in Bulgarian like no other. When she is not singing with Slavs, she is singing with Shades, or just singing to herself! She was born on the 311th day of the year, the same day (that many years earlier) Turkey adopted their National Constitution. Coincidence? I think not.
Once she rescued a baby dolphin who had lost its way. When the dolphin saw her, they grinned to each other, and were best friends for life. In 2015, Slav paper doll Keren will reach the shelves, and there will be a frenzy to see who can get the limited edition KEREN!! Keren loves slavs, and slavs love Keren.
Favorite Slavs Song: Kaval Sviri
Favorite Cheese: Cheddar
Fun Fact: Keren sings with a band called A Streetcar Named Funk.
Stephanie Boegeman (GRD ’13)
Voice Part: Soprano II
Hometown: Davis, California
Major: Development Economics
Stephanie spent the past few years before coming to Yale doing hands-on development work in Cambodia. But besides her wonderful accolades as a humanitarian, she is also a world-touring slam poet. She began her poetic journey at the age of 6 when her first pledge of allegiance recitation stunned the whole school assembly. In the space between college and grad school, she has also been a construction worker, a secret message decoder for the FBI, a scuba diver for blue pearls, and an astronaut. Steph enjoys fried crickets, long bike rides through the rice paddies, and hitchhiking in Eastern Europe via retrofitted ambulances. Don’t cross her. She has a hand in Croatian economics.
Favorite Slavs Song: Gonja…because a sieve remains a sieve.
Favorite Cheese: Havarti
Fun Fact: Stephanie has been known to wield a jackhammer.
Kelly Campbell (SM ’14)
Voice Part: Soprano I
Hometown: Bronx, New York
Major: Mechanical Engineering
You might guess by looking at her that Kelly is an Irish lass, and you’d be right! Her family hails from County Mayo, Ireland. She hasn’t strayed too far from her ethnic roots; instead of Irish step dancing you can find Kelly tap dancing around campus. Kelly has always been a bit mischievous; she had her first appointment with the school principal in the second grade. There was some mixup with a broken window—something to do with shouting and glass shattering…she doesn’t like to speak of it. For the immediate thereafter, she had to wear a Bane-style face mask, but since coming to college that period of her life is long over. We’re delighted that the power of her voice has been unleashed in Slavs. One day she hopes to marry Jason Segel.
Favorite Slavs Song: Isgreyala e Messechinka
Favorite Cheese: Mozzarella
Fun Fact: Kelly has two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus.
Justine Cefalu (TD ’15)
Voice Part: Alto I
Positions: Business Manager (’12-’13), International Tour Manager (’12-’13)
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Major: Environmental Studies
This beautiful female comes from Cincinnati Ohio–the land of George Clooney and Graeter’s Ice Cream! Her hobbies include being smiley, singing Irish folk songs, and making the world a better place. She enjoys home-grown foods, long walks in thick grasses, sunny days, and playing stringed instruments. Justine and her twin sister Anna Rose often delight in the beautiful simplicities of everyday life. Justine owns many beautiful patterned socks and tights. You might as well call her Yovanitsa.
Favorite Cheese: Gorgonzola
Favorite Slavs Song: Nanina
Fun Fact: The beautiful dreads that you see on Justine’s head today were the second attempt at dreading her hair. The first attempt simply slipped out of her silky smooth hair!
Cynthia Deng (JE ’14)
Voice Part: Soprano II
Hometown: Hamden, CT
Major: Architecture
Cynthia loves cats. She appreciates bugs for their awesomeness, but she genuinely loves cats. More than most things. If the world runs into a food shortage, Cynthia will be more than happy to eat cereal. As it is she could eat cereal at most meals on most days. Don’t let her quiet demeanor fool you; Cynthia is an impassioned environmental activist willing to put her liberty at stake for her love of all things earth. She spends as much time as possible in the outdoors and has been known to really hug trees. Cynthia’s hair is 30% silk (sustainably harvested, of course). She auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance and made it to Vegas in 2010, but had to leave the competition because of an injury. Cynthia. She’s a really cool dancer. Cynthia. Boogie to the groove now.
Favorite Slavs Song: Dragana I Slaveya… and Prekhvrukna Ptichka
Favorite Cheese: Manchego (Don Quixote’s favorite cheese too!)
Fun Fact: Cynthia was once arrested for engaging in nonviolent protest of a gas pipeline.
Abby Emerson (SM ’14)
Voice Part: Soprano I
Positions: Tour Manager (’10-’11), Publicity Manager (’11-’12), Web Czarina (’11-’12)
Hometown: Haverford, Pennsylvania
Major: Psychology
Abigail Emerson was once a Soviet Spy. The CIA doesn’t know this, so don’t tell them. They are still looking for her. She once stole the Nuclear Launch codes, ya see, and they really want those back, in case the commies blow up all the nukes, and the entire world ends in a nuclear winter.
But it’s OK. Abby defected a while back (generally considered to be “good for the jews”). She has since spent her time camping in Vermont, bopping about Philadelphia, and, most excitingly, every now and then attending a class at Yale. When not pretending she can’t speak Russian (in order to divert the CIA), Abby enjoys hopping on one foot, pretending to be a nice doggy, worshipping Ofra Chaza, and preparing how best to make a Lord of the Rings reference in Slavs Rehearsals. Often all at once. When pretending not to be a Slav (in order to divert her Slavfanboys) she sometimes engages in “theater”–acting, directing, stage managing, costuming, makeuping, onewomanshowing…the usual.
But who is the real Abby? The Soviet Spy? The Slav? The LOTRfangirl? Who can tell. We get lost in her smile and infectious laughter quite regularly. You should too.
Favorite Slavs Song: Shto Garit
Favorite Cheese: Brie
Fun Fact: In Chinese, there is a special four character phrase (成语) that describes the curl of Abby’s hair.
Anna Rose Gable (PC ’13)
Voice Part: Alto I
Positions: Tour Manager (’09-’10), Business Manager (’10-’11), Musical Director (’11-’12)
Hometown: Decatur, Georgia
Major: Environmental Studies
Once upon a 1990, in a far away land, a woman looked up at her husband, her hand on her belly, and said, “Honey, I think we’re going to have an ARG!” And so they did. The ARG grew in health and splendor, running around the state of Georgia with songs on her lips and mud on her hands. She learned many things as she wandered: about worms and compost and dirt, about music theory, General Ecology, Russian, the meaning of friendship, and magical golden accordions. This bright-haired enchantress now uses her awesome and terrible powers as a member of the Yale Slavic Chorus, member of Yale STEP, Konjo dancer, farmer, and friend to everyone who meets her.
Favorite Slavs Song: Dragana i Slaveya
Favorite Cheese: Ricotta
Fun Fact: Anna Rose taught herself to read Cyrillic.
Leslie Hiciano (BR ’14)
Voice Part: Alto II
Hometown: New York, New York
Major: She wants to be an astronaut.
Leslie was born in an Edward Hopper painting, but grew up in a Norman Rockwell magazine cover. She spent her childhood days on the streets of Manhattan, playing whiffleball in the streets and shooting short independent films which would later be displayed in community theaters to audiences of 20. During her time spent in the city, she interned (read: hung around the kitchen) with Mario Batali, learning how to make a smorgasbord of gourmet Italian dishes. It is here she also became an expert in singing while chopping onions, a skill she takes with her to Yale, where she sings in both the Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus and Tangled Up In Blue. In short, Leslie is awesome.
Favorite Slavs Song: Prekvhrukna Ptichka
Favorite Cheese: Cheese Louise
Fun Fact: In her most distant past life, Leslie was a Norse goddess.
Chihiro Isozaki (TC ’15)
Voice Part: Soprano I
Positions: Tour Manager (’11-’12)
Hometown: Singapore
Major: Comparative Literature & East Asian Studies
Chihiro’s name is Romanian for “cheese hero.” Aside from singing for Slavs, Chihiro is the publicity head for Global Zero, Japanese editor for Accent magazine, and a writer of travel articles for a site called Jetset Times. She grew up in the tropics and had no recollection or understanding of seasons until she came to Yale, but Slavs retreat in Vermont for two consecutive years has converted her to a lover of all things Autumn. She once defeated the Kraken with the power of her yik. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based A Scandal in Bohemia on a rough draft of her autobiography.
Favorite Slavs Song: Dumai Zlato & Bozha Zvezda
Favorite Cheese: Neufchatel
Fun Fact: This summer Chihiro sailed around the world on a cruise, a reward for winning an essay contest. You’ve just joined the list of people who are jealous of this.
Annelisa Leinbach (CC ’16)
Voice Part: Alto I
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Major: Art & Humanities
Annelisa is a creative type with a wandering soul. Annelisa’s sonnets have received international acclaim for their delicate treatment of a very sensitive subject: how much wood could a woodchuck really chuck? If he could chuck wood, that is. She lived in 3 different countries by the time she reached the age of 5. She has actually tried to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Twice. Like many in Slavs, she is also a naturalist. In elementary school she was an avid birdwatcher; she has over 150 species of bird on her life list. She has a collage on her wall devoted entirely to the letter R. Her goals in life are simple: learn some stuff, and eat every cultivatable fruit there is.
Favorite Slavs Song: Mamli Mukhasa
Favorite Cheese: Parmesan
Fun Fact: Annelisa once sailed down a canal in downtown Phoenix in a plastic storage bin.
Sonya Levitova (TD ’15)
Voice Part: Soprano II
Hometown: Brookline, Massachusetts
Major: Procrastination (Economics…sooner or later)
Sonya’s name means “dormouse” in Russian. (Un)fortunately, this does not reflect upon her sleeping habits (or lack thereof). It is, however, reflected in her facial features? See for yourself! We all have our vices. Sonya’s is nail polish. Sonya is also a dedicated member of the ballroom dance team at Yale — her favorite dance is Jive. Sonya has worked on an Alaskan oil rig, speaks Swahili, and can fly a helicopter. Her parents are very proud.
Favorite Slavs Song: Kaval Sviri
Favorite Cheese: Goat Cheese, hands down
Fun Fact: Sonya’s first language was dog, or at least so she has been told.
Jana Lohrová (ES ’16)
Voice Part: Soprano II
Hometown: Praha, Czech Republic
Major: Mollecular, Cellular, and Development Biology & Global Affairs, but that may not work out…
Once, two protons collided in a particle accelerator and decided that the Higgs boson wasn’t good enough, so Jana was created instead. In lieu of studying hard at Yale, Jana just does a lot of ballroom dancing because the Viennese Waltz beats microeconomics nine times out of ten. Jana loved Stiles before even being assigned to it because she doesn’t like when buildings are lying to her about their age. She’s not interested in this imitation-Gothic-business. When she’s back in Praha, she roams forests with her white wolf (Swiss shepherd) Kara. Jana keeps an army of three million fiercely protective honeybees as pets. She also lives in a tree house built on an Ent. She brought her home to college with her, and the Ent is in fact posing as a normal tree somewhere on campus.
Favorite Slavs Song: Mamli Mukhasa
Favorite Cheese: sharp gouda/blue cheese/ syrečky!
Fun Fact: Facts are rarely fun, but this one is: Jana doesn’t understand 95% of the words in Slavic Chorus music, but persistently fakes that she does.
Alexandria Marino (BR ’05, MDPhD ’15)
Voice Part: Soprano I & II
Positions: Returning alumna Slav, Business Manager (’12-’13)
Hometown: Bridgeport, West Virginia
Major: She’s casually getting her doctorate in Neuorscience.
Alexandria is in the Medical School at Yale getting her PhD, but she was also an undergraduate here and she sang with Slavs then, too. We were so happy to have her return, we decided to give her the extra challenge of learning an entirely new voice part! She’s so multi-talented she zoomed through the learning. She also sings with the Yale Camerata. She has beautiful cats. She is beautiful. And she’s getting married! The bird flies over the wide field…
Favorite Slavs Song: Israslo Durvo Visoko
Favorite Cheese: Gruyere
Fun Fact: Alexandria has never been to Tahiti. She’s been everywhere else.
Katy Naples-Mitchell (SY ’13)
Voice Part: Soprano I & II
Positions: Goatherd (’10-’12), Poster Czarina (’10-’12), Publicity Manager (’12-’13), Web Czarina (’12-’13)
Hometown: Highland Park, New Jersey
Major: Political Science, with a concentration in human rights
K-K-K-Katy, a popular WWI era song published in 1918, was preemptively written about our very own KNM, whose lucky number and birthday happen to be 18. The song is perfect for her. She loves the moon, she loves the shore, and she loves kitchens. She particularly enjoys chopping onions. She also sings in a variety of other vocal ensembles on campus, including Redhot & Blue and Whim ‘n Rhythm.
Favorite Slavs Song: A Što Čemo, Prochuse Moma Nedelya
Favorite Cheese: Smoked Gouda
Fun Fact: Katy is perplexed by the space time continuum.
Anne O’Brien (DC ’16)
Voice Part: Alto II
Hometown: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Major: Classics
As is typical of an aspiring Classics major, Anne likes to memorize mythological genealogy (hint: everyone is related to Zeus). She is an unstoppable doodler and will scrawl upon any and all stationary surfaces. Beware napping cats. Beware human statues. Her love for tea is rivaled only by her love for the BBC. This works out well, as tea is the national beverage of the United Kingdom. Anne is considering majoring in cheese with a minor in White Russians. Anne was accepted to Yale in part as a recruit for varsity Cards Against Humanity. When she isn’t singing in Slavs or New Blue, she spends her time training hard on her card skills. Anne has a secret superpower: a special kind of telekinesis whereby she can move objects with her beautiful alto voice.
Favorite Slavs Song: Konj Bjezhit & Mamli Mukhasa
Favorite Cheese: Pecorino Romano
Fun Fact: Anne has eight turtles.
Maclovia Quintana (MC’11, FES’13)
Voice Part: Alto I
Positions: Tour Manager (’08-’09), Business Manager (’09-’10), Musical Director (’10-’11), Returning Slav (’12-’13), International Tour Manager (’12-’13)
Hometown: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Major: Forestry School
Maclovia “Clover” Quintana hails from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She also loves El Nino, and has a special face she makes when talking about this very specific dog. Maclovia is woofing in New Zealand. Maclovia is smart shoes. Maclovia is permaculture. Maclovia is farmer’s markets. Maclovia is red glasses. Maclovia is slav dinner. Maclovia is purple. Maclovia is the green house. Maclovia is a gloriously colored skirt. Maclovia is a nose plug. Maclovia is Oye! Maclovia is spring salvage. Maclovia is a soprano. Maclovia is true love! Maclovia is scarves. Maclovia is an Uwan. Maclovia is amazing! Maclovia is cheese in the form of a human being. Maclovia is all these things and more. We’re so happy to have her back.
Favorite Slavs Song: Israslo Durvo Visoko
Favorite Cheese: The kind that comes from Croatian markets.
Fun Fact: Maclovia and Nila (a slav alumna) are actually the same person.
Celia Rostow (JE ’13)
Voice Part: Soprano
Positions Held: Musical Director (’12-’13), Publicity Manager (’10-’11), Web-czarina (’10-’11), Assistant Business Manager (’11-’12)
Hometown: New York, New York
Major: History of Magic
In the depths of the winter of ’11, Celia introduced the Slavs to snow ice cream, and at that point we discovered her deep devotion to Vermont and the proper appreciation of maple syrup. When she’s not fending off bears in the northland, Celia likes to study the history and languages of formerly Communist countries. She has been known to accumulate massive quantities of Slavs music in her iTunes, but always shares the wealth with her comrades. Celia holds down the sop section with the famous (and fabulous) Erghen Deda head flip, always making sure to get the hair out of her eyes in time to serve her capacity as Best Assistant Business Manager Ever. Outside of Slavs, Celia sings her heart out in a whole other host of languages with Magevet — Yale’s first, best, and only Jewish a cappella singing group. We wonder if she knits backwards at those rehearsals.
Favorite Slavs Song: Kon Bjezhit
Favorite Cheese: Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese.
Fun Fact: Celia didn’t like eggs until she joined Slavs.
Alexandra Turrini (SY ’13)
Voice Part: Soprano II, Alto I, Alto II, (Anything, Really)
Hometown: Mendham, New Jersey
Major: Physics
Alex is a physicist and a fashionista. She wears bright yellow pumps and she knows the acceleration of gravity like the back of her hand. She has spent the past two summers working at CERN. That’s right, people. She’s a genius. She’s also excellent at drawing chalk nightingales on the floors of WLH and biking for long distances. In her spare time, she sings with the New Blue of Yale–the other all women’s vocal ensemble founded in 1969, in the same week in which we Slavs were founded. And she hopes to introduce some Finnish songs into our repertoire.
Favorite Slavs Song: Mamli Mukhasa
Favorite Cheese: Caramelized Cheddar
Fun Fact: We suspect that Alex is a superhero. Keep your eyes peeled.
Laura Wellman (DC ’13)
Voice Part: Soprano I
Hometown: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Laura hit the big-time when her final project in freshman Chinese—a musical tribute to Yale Recycling entirely in Mandarin—went viral on YouTube. What most people did not know at the time was that Laura was hired by Yale Recycling specifically for her musical prowess: the manager spotted Laura in the last stages of a vocal face-off with a nightingale, and looked to Laura as a consultant on the program’s image among avian residents of New Haven. Coincidentally, Laura’s process of recruitment into the Slavic Chorus was remarkably similar. Laura loves doing dishes for fun. Oh, and she’s a goddess.
Favorite Slavs Song: Prekvhrukna Ptichka
Favorite Cheese: Mozzarella
Fun Fact: Laura brushes her teeth with a bottle of rakija
Ayanna Woods (SM ’14)
Voice Part: Alto II
Positions: Publicity Manager (’12-’13)
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
This girl. When she’s not at Slavs, she rocks everyone’s socks in Steppin’ Out, Glee Club, Gilbert and Sullivan shows, or her own band. A true musician who analyzes songs to figure out why they are so good, dances to everything, writes and records her own music. Not to mention she is hilarious. Also, the flavor of gum you are chewing might have been invented by Ayanna–resident Wrigley flavor producer. I know you all want her, but she is in a relationship with Simon, her beloved ukelele.
Favorite Slavs Song: Bozha Zvezda
Favorite Cheese: Extra Sharp Cheddar
Fun Fact: She can throat sing.
Hana Zegeye (BR ’13)
Voice Part: Soprano II
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Major: History of Science and Medicine
Hana Zegeye, born in Seattle but raised in the backcountry of Charlottesville, North Carolina, grew up on a farm raising strictly cattle and corn. She had two dogs, Pancho and Lefty, and a dream–to move to the big city. At the age of 14, Hana left all she knew behind and moved to Chicago, where she played in dark musky night clubs and at bar mitzvahs singing tunes she knew only too well. She now sings with the Yale Glee Club and the Yale Madrigal Singers. And she’s captain of the Yale Quidditch team! And yes, another returning Slav–after her year abroad in London! Once a Slav, always a Slav.
Favorite Slavs Song: Devoiko Mari Xubava
Favorite Cheese: Roquefort
Fun Fact: Hana is one of three Slavs in the class of 2013 who has synesthesia.
The Yale Slavic Chorus 