“It was very important to me that I could still be a musician even if I didn’t make my living doing it,” says singer Donna Walker. “It doesn’t mean that you are not still an artist.”

For Walker, singing is a part of her identity regardless of the positions she has held over the years. Currently, she serves as the Assistant Supervisor at Lawrence-Gregory Community Center at Dade Street where she also teaches pottery classes. 

Walker is also in her third season with Voces Angelorum, which will present their holiday choral concert at the Goodwood Museum and Gardens on Tuesday, Dec. 17. She compares the rigor it takes to train and be a good musician to her creative process with clay. 

“I wanted to do bowls immediately but my bowls were terrible,” says Walker. “Then I spoke to my teacher and she asked if I had done the preliminary work making cylinders. It’s all about not skipping stages in development or drills because those give you the tools you need to be expressive.”

Music enticed Walker from a young age. At 5 years old, her parents discovered her musical voice when they caught her singing along to a “Fantasia” record. From that point on, her father would make a Saturday morning ritual out of teaching Walker new songs, his baritone accompanying her young voice on the guitar. 

Walker also caught the ears of her second grade teachers when she sang an old Irish song, “Say A Little Prayer,” and cemented her place in school choirs. Her New York City neighbors were mentors and musicians as well — renowned harpist with the Met Orchestra Reinhardt Elster and music teacher Nancy Elster. Both encouraged her training and even offered to help her rehearse for a high school production. 

“I can remember laughing in rehearsal with [Reinhardt] because he was so wonderful,” says Walker. “It was like pulling a wagon. Wherever you were [vocally] that’s where he was, too.” 

Though she didn’t major in music, Walker studied at Queens College where she sang with the opera workshop class. Her main stage roles included Emily Dickinson one-act chamber opera “A Letter to Emily,” and Papageno in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” After graduation she joined the Canticum Novum Singers, an elite chamber choir that performs in many of New York City’s major concert halls and abroad.

The Canticum Novum Singers allowed her to improve her sight-reading as Walker continued to study voice. Walker was given the opportunity to sing for music theorist Carl Schachter and still reels from his compliment on her “natural understanding of harmony.” Her second brush with fame was when Broadway star Gregory Hines judged a talent show at a community center where she was working in therapeutic recreation. 

“I sang ‘Cry Me A River’ and he came up to me afterward and said, ‘Lady, you can sing,’” laughs Walker. 

With Voces Angelorum, Walker says that keeping her vocal cords healthy has been a top priority. Once a soprano, she is now embracing her parts as an alto in the chorus and feels that experience has made her a better singer. She believes that every piece is a chance to step into someone else’s shoes and embody the lyrics fully to express the emotional range of the music.  

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