Lady of the Week – Heidi McFadyen


Heidi McFadyen

Soprano 1

How long have you been in the choir?
This is my first season!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
I celebrate the entire catalog, but Sisters Roar, Rebel Girl, Hive and Burn the White Flag are really fun to sing.

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
I’m in awe of this community of women. Reconnecting with music is great. Working with intelligent, funny, and talented women with high standards to create that music is what makes the choir a special experience.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
I like going to the movies, concerts and theater. I like to learn, and I learn through art.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
I’m from Eau Claire, Wis., so I’ve been an acolyte for Bon Iver/all Justin Vernon projects since forever. Lizzo, Polica and Cloud Cult. My Atmosphere fandom once helped me connect with kind skateboarding youths when I was lost and alone in Honolulu after too many Mai Tais. Minnesota music brings people together!

 What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I do a very intense rendition of 9 to 5. I feel those lyrics hard.

Describe yourself in three words
Overthinking this question.

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Beanie Feldstein as young me, and J. Lo as older me. Where It’s At by Beck would play in the background of the opening scene while I repeatedly hit the snooze bar on my alarm. But…it’s not like I’ve thought about it much.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Oprah.

Lady of the Week – Merrilee Brown


Merrilee Brown

Tenor II 

How long have you been in the choir?
This is my first season 🙂

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
Right now it’s Bikini Kill’s Rebel Girl. Its punchy, upbeat and unapologetic. 🙂

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
When I joined this spring, I gained more than a hobby once a week. I gained a community. The ladies in this choir share their skills, time, and friendship, in and out of rehearsal. There’s no director so every member has their ideas considered equally. Also I love performing and we do about 2 gigs month. WIN. WIN. WIN.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
People+Beer+Patios/Games/Biking/Listening to Podcasts/Karaoke

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
Pavielle. Can’t wait to collaborate with her for the finale.

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Heartbreaker, Pat Benatar

Describe yourself in three words
That loud Texan

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Amy Poehler

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Betty White

Lady of the Week – Annette Schiebout


Annette Schiebout

Tenor 2

How long have you been in the choir?
Since day 1, nearly 9 years ago

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
Burn the White Flag, Hive, Not a Good Man, Anthem, Porch Light, Sisters Roar

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
I never wanted to be a performer and I didn’t have music in my life for over a decade, but being part of a community of amazing humans, making beautiful music together, has had a profound impact on my life. Even attending rehearsals and finding harmony with these women is the best therapy around. Not to mention we have had some incredible collaborations and performances over the years in some of the greatest venues in town.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
I write, garden, paint, organize various projects, teach, run an AirBNB/music literary venue called Bella Luna Studios at the Wolf House, hang with the puppies, and sing with three other local groups.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
Dessa, Lizzo, Atmosphere, Her Crooked Heart, Humbird, Jeremy Messersmith, Haley, P.O.S., Chris Koza, Pavielle, Amanda Standalone, Cactus Blossoms, Charlie Parr, Dosh, Roma di Luna… this city is just brewing with talent and I love all kinds of music.

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I honestly hate karaoke. I have had far too many embarrassing not-in-my-range-I-don’t-actually-know-the-song moments, but I have been known to sing Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” and Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”

Describe yourself in three words
creative, driven, community-builder

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Jennifer Lawrence

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Content in my skin, continuously making new things and having the time to think about them.

Photo by Maya Washington

Lady of the Week – Cat Rongitsch

Cat Rongitsch
Alto 2

How long have you been in the choir?
This is my premier season!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
Run to the window

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
Singing with people I would hang out with in real life.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
I work in a classroom for elementary kids with severe, profound disabilities. I read a lot. I try to garden. I like to paint things into paintings that don’t belong there. I live mom life pretty hard too.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
My husband is in a band called The Postponements. I suppose I should say them, although it’s not really my bag. I listen to a lot of Koo Koo Kangaroo but that’s also by default. I’ve been out of the loop so long, I’m afraid that’s the best answer I can give you. WAIT! I have heard and enjoyed some Lizzo songs. Totally counts!

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Hold On by Wilson Phillips

Describe yourself in three words.
Liberal, Gryffindor, Creative

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Alyssa Milano or Christina Hendricks

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Interesting

Lady of the Week – Dani Hans

Dani Hans
Soprano 1

How long have you been in the choir?
This is my first season!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (I walked down the aisle to this song!)

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
I love the attitude.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
Talk about plants and see live music.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
The Bad Bad Hats, Fiji 13, Haley Bonar

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Tyrone by Erykah Badu

Describe yourself in three words
monstera furiosa explosivo

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Jack Black, because he loves to sing and fart.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Forest ranger

Lady of the Week – Kara Greshwalk

Kara Greshwalk
Soprano 1

How long have you been in the choir?
This is my first season and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be singing with these fabulous ladies!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
I love performing Enter Mister Sandman and Can’t Hardly Wait because they really get the crowds going and I just feed off that energy. Now that we are working on Anthem by Leonard Cohen, that might become my new favorite because it evokes so many different emotions. The first time we rehearsed it I totally teared up!

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
I have really enjoyed getting know such a diverse group of singers and have been blown away by how kind and inclusive everyone has been toward all of us new people. Also, just being able to connect with our audiences through song. I love looking out at the crowds and seeing people smiling and bopping along to the music.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
My other passions include road biking, running, travelling, playing ukulele, and theater(acting in it or watching it). As the weather warms up you might find me stealing an hour with a book on the Lake Nokomis Beach.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
I grew up on Bob Dylan, The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, and Prince. Chastity Brown and Lizzo have been finding their way onto my playlists quite a bit more lately, as well as The Replacements. I just love how there’s no single defining feature of MN music, other than how eclectic and ever evolving it is.

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Describe yourself in three words
Enthusiastic, Goofy, Passionate

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Ellie Kemper

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I just achieved it this spring: my second career as a speech language pathologist!

Photo courtesy of Anna Grinets

Lady of the Week – Holly Amaya

Holly Amaya
Tenor 2 

How long have you been in the choir?
This is my fourth year!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
While I love busting into We Belong when out with my choir lady friends, singing Anthem is always very moving.

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
This choir is not just a singing group. It’s an amazing and supportive network of interesting, fun, powerful and kind women. I know that if I need last-minute child care, someone to take extra furniture off my hands, a bit of encouragement about a tough situation or a recommendation for a massage therapist there is always someone willing to help out!

What do you like to do outside of choir?
I love to be outside – hiking, camping, riding my motorcycle, lounging on a patio…I love traveling and finding adventures close to and far from home.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
HALEY, Chris Koza, Jeremy Messersmith

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
It’s Oh So Quiet by Bjork. I promise not to break your eardrums on the screamy parts.

Describe yourself in three words
Efficient, sensitive, expressive

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
When I got my bangs, I was told Christina Hendricks

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Debt-free / Backup singer / yoga retreat leader

Photo courtesy of Anna Grinets

Lady of the Week – Nicole Kitzhaber

Nicole Kitzhaber
Soprano 2

How long have you been in the choir?
Since March 2019

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
Hive

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
I love getting to sing hang out with all these cool women from different ages and backgrounds. And I love dressing up for gigs, it’s super fun

What do you like to do outside of choir?
I sing in another choir every Sunday for my church, I do Zumba every Tuesday, I own my own home and am remodeling it myself, I have two cats and a dog who keep me very happy, and I am a nanny for two awesome kids!

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
Nooky Jones, Chris Koza, and the Minnesota Opera 🙂

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
“Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley

Describe yourself in three words
Sweet, comedic, passionate

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Rashida Jones because she’s my twin and we have the same birthday 🙂

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Happy

Lady of the Week – Sara Tinklenberg

Sara Tinklenberg

Tenor 1

How long have you been in the choir?
Just starting my 5th year!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
Can I cheat on this one? I think I would have to pick the entire Chris Koza Anthems and Monuments set. He wrote an album full of amazing songs that challenged us as a choir in so many ways. I tell people that one of my most moving moments as a musician was when Chris and his band came to rehearsal for the first time for us to run through the songs all together. The first song finished and it was glorious. We had worked so hard and the fact that we were gonna pull it off just moved me to the core. I think I smiled for a week straight after rehearsal. Wanna listen? Follow this link.

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
I have met some of my very best friends in this group. And we get to perform in some pretty fun spaces.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
Nap. Binge watch TV. Read books. Eat. Chase children (I work with children with autism). Hang out with my family and friends.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
Duh, Chris Koza. Also, Jeremy Messersmith, Chastity Brown, Aby Wolf, Rogue Valley, Jaedyn James & The Hunger. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone, but these are the ones that pop in my head first.

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Glitter – Pink or All of Me – John Legend. I’m looking to try some new songs though!

Describe yourself in three words
angsty, funny and tired

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Cate Blanchett

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A lady of leisure. I want to travel, eat, sleep and get pampered. Or a preschool teacher if I have to keep it real. I love little people.

Photo courtesy of Anna Grinets

Lady of the Week – Sarah Troedson Haynes

Sarah Joy Troedson Haynes, the First

Soprahno II

How long have you been in the choir?

Just a little baby bit of 6 months!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?

I love Wildewoman. And Run to the Window.

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?

Being part of PFLC makes me feel inspired and hopeful and…happy. And understood. And part of something that matters. And part of something that both fills me up and draws me out in the exact way I have needed filling and drawing at this time in my life, and that says, “hey, we need you here right now. You, yes you.” The more I get to know this group, the more I am impressed and inspired by the joyful, artful variety of one-of-a-kind women I am rubbing elbows with each week, who are doing creative, difficult, purposeful things with their lives or jobs or hobbies. And to be part of a group that pushes each other to be better – gently, firmly, lovingly, with strength and power and vigor and verve and humor and awkwardness. Ha! It’s the feeling you get while standing in a quiet street under a thick, warm rain shower on an early, temperate morning – and good hair and dry clothes be damned. Amirite?

What do you like to do outside of choir?

Karaoke, jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, number puzzles, nature walks with my family, traveling to unusual places both local and international, esp with my family. Watching political youtube clips or religious cult documentaries with my husband. Truthfully I work soooo much. I kind of squeeze in the rest of my life around my job (as International Accounting Manager at CHS Inc). Which I fortunately generally really enjoy my job, but work/life balances is a bit off-kilter.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?

Not local, but I am really jonesing on a multitude of David Byrne tunes these days. I also love Richard Thompson, and Guided by Voices is a default setting at our house. Local – I’m an old-time fan of Martin Devaney and I like Atmosphere and was recently introduced to Heiruspecs. I like Roe Family Singers. And Mike Gunther is amazing. Also love local radio! I love radio station Radio K 100.7 FM “real college radio”. It is THE BEST place to hear interesting, weird new music. Not always local music, true – but always fresh and different.

What’s your go-to karaoke song?

You’re killing me with the singular nouns here. Karaoke is my hobby, man. My soundman husband has set up karaoke in our basement so we are always at the mic. Depending on my mood, you may hear What’s Up (4 Non Blondes), I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor), Con Te Partiro (Bocelli/Brightman), My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion), Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas), Let it Go (Frozen), Candy (Iggy Pop – duet with my hubs), I Dreamed a Dream (and other Les Mis), Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (and other Evita), Heartbreaker (Pat Benetar), Magic Man (Heart) and a small handful of Carpenters and Joni Mitchell and other Disney and B’way showtunes. I can’t choose just one! #divadonna

Describe yourself in three words

Get. Shit. Done.

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

I think I would want the movie about my life to be one of those European art house films with all the action occurring in a single room over a period of years, and there’s a lot of important dialogue that drives the plot so if you don’t listen carefully, you’re screwed. So I would need to be played by some lesser-known Euro actress who can get the right blend of quirky self-confidence amid overly-frequent social anxiety. She could have a sexy French accent as a point of artistic license. I would sign off on that.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

At peace with the choices I’ve made.

Photo courtesy of Anna Grinets