Francine is a native New Yorker who graduated from Queens College in 1972 with a BA in English Literature. She worked in publishing and had a son. Francine then studied the performing arts and worked with performing artists and she appeared in museums in New York. Francine is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA and continues to work under various contracts that are union-approved. It has been a happy-going experience for her with Young@Heart.

Wayne started out as a New York Junior High School orchestra teacher, morphing into a pre-punk musician, hanging with Andy Warhol and playing places like CBGB, Max’s and the Fillmore East. He then,  (This Space Intentionally Left Blank) , and then worked for a classical record company. He moved to Northampton to open a deli with his brother, Gerry. In Northampton he was chairman of the Arts Council and performed with No Theater.

Wayne returned to New York to pursue a career as a pastry chef, most notably doing the desserts and breads for all of Bobby Flay’s restaurants. He was a host, and frequent guest, on several Food Network shows, appearing in over 200 television News and cooking segments. He is the author of four cookbooks and contributor to many others. As a food journalist and chef, his articles have appeared in Food & Wine, The New York Times and New York Magazine. Pastry Arts and Design ranked him in the Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America and the James Beard Foundation recognized him for his work in food media. He was the first American pastry chef invited to the Salon du Chocolate, Paris. He considers his two daughters to be his greatest achievement. During college, Wayne worked in Borscht Belt show bands where he learned every dirty joke ever written. Today, he is basically, “an old guy walks into the doctor’s office…”

A rich boy from the affluent Jersey burbs, shocked by the corruption of a country that can enslave, assassinate, genocide a Vietnam, beat young people in Chicago, condemn a Nixon yet elect a Trump. I had to get  across the country to experience the Haight, then move back to Jersey to meet the love of my life.

Born in Sewickley, PA. He attended Stanford, graduated with a BA in Classical Greek, learned carving wood and stone from a sculptor in Barcelona. He moved to New York City in 1973 with his wife, Kathleen, and two kids. He now has three grandchildren. In New York, Henry made sculpture, exhibited, then took up photography to document subway graffiti and early Hip Hop. He has published three books, and collaborated in the making of several films about urban popular culture. For more than 10 years he has been enjoying and learning to play a Jarana and to sing Son Jarocho, a folk music from Vera Cruz state in Mexico, with a large and growing community in the USA.

Mosee Cheung was born in Hong Kong and has been evolving ever since. Young@Heart is the latest part of her evolution and she is enjoying it immensely.

Afiya (Diane) Dawson was born in 1948 in Harlem and raised in NYC. Afiya currently resides on the L.E.S. and has since 1982. Afiya holds a B.S. in Education from City College and a Masters and Advanced Certificate in Guidance and Counseling from Brooklyn College. In 2000 Afiya heard the call and was ordained to the Ministry. She currently serves as Senior Minister at The House of The Lord Pentecostal Church in Queens N.Y. Always an advocate for her community, Afiya has spent time serving on the Management Board of The Slave Galleries at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church. She was also an active member of Women for Justice and Lower East Side Call for Justice, as well as SPARC (Seward Park Area Redevelopment Coalition). She also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century as well as on their Management Team. Her hobbies are sewing, crocheting and most of all reading; she is currently an active member of three reading groups. She loves to sing and is thrilled to be a member of Young@Heart. She is included in two documentaries and is also a published author. Afiya loves to travel, especially throughout Africa and the Caribbean. She is most happy when she gets to spend time with her two adult children and her two teenage grandsons.

Born in New York, Yolanda worked at Bellevue Hospital and a hospital in the Bronx for over 20 years, assisting patients. She worked tirelessly during 9/11 to bring people to Bellevue by ambulance. She is an advocate for women’s rights and the rights of old people. She also cooks for homeless people, as well as offering assistance with translation. This afternoon is her very first solo.

I was born in Hong Kong and worked in the travel business for 10+ years. I like to travel and explore different parts of the world. I enjoy new things and cultivating various interests, including calligraphy, drawing, and singing, as well as tai chi and yoga. I enjoy spending time with my grandkids, who are 6 months and 3 years old. I never thought I’d be in a chorus – but here I am now!

Sharon is a native New Yorker who has lived in Manhattan since she graduated from The City College of New York. She is a retired English/History teacher. Sharon has performed as a dancer and actress in community theaters. She has also competed in ballroom dance, American Smooth division (pro/am). Currently she’s been learning how to sing. She’s also the mother of one son, Daniel.

All my life I lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I graduated from Hunter College with a degree in Accounting. Then I got married and spent the last twenty years of my career working at the New York City Comptroller’s office.

Lisa is from Guangzhou, China. Her hobbies include ballroom dancing and traveling. She has already visited many different countries and places.

She enjoys oil painting and cooking.

Her first job in New York was working at a kindergarten and her second job was working at a Jewelry store.

Beth was born in Cincinnati and grew up in southwestern Ohio where she sang with high school and church choirs. She attended the University of Rochester and subsequently moved to NYC, where she settled on the Upper West Side and stayed. After a couple of dead-end jobs, she attended NYU Law School, then did a stint in a VISTA community-organizing project focusing on federal food law programs and welfare rights. She worked in civil legal services in Brooklyn (Bushwick, Brownsville, East New York), then worked at The Legal Aid Society Harlem Community Law Office from 1986 until she retired in 2015. In the 1990s, she took up singing again with the Central City Chorus and City Bar Chorus. Lost her voice but found it again at Young@Heart.

Lynda brings a lifetime of singing to the Y@H. An Army brat from Texas, Lynda began singing in the strategic territory of pre-statehood Alaska, where USA Defense funds flowed freely, and solfege, singing, and violin were mandatory at Denali Elementary. Having always sung chorus – including with the Bronx Opera – Lynda is now embracing a new milestone at age 79 debuting as a gospel soft rock soloist, proving that even after seven decades of song, there are always new heights to reach, thanks to voice teacher Richard Lippold and Y@H founder Bob Cilman who dropped down from Heaven with his harmonica and professional musicians at the Abrons Arts Center in my Lower East Side New York City neighborhood. Woooo-hoooo!

Joan Jeffri started her career as a performer and a poet and has circled back around to both. In between she spent three decades at Columbia University, directing a graduate program in arts administration, and creating a research center focused on the condition of living artists. She met her husband onstage, has two talented kids, and five grandchildren, all in Brooklyn. Her later research focused on elder artists and she began two legacy projects to document them and their work. The most recent, the Performing Arts Legacy Project at the Entertainment Community Fund is alive and well, as, thankfully, is she.

Leslie is an avid skier and swimmer. No she’s not! But, she has been performing for her entire life; acting, dancing, singing. She is presently updating her one woman tragic-comedy show which she has been doing a variation of for the past 40 years. She has also begun to write a non-traditional memoir - a series of short non-linear pieces. She is a film-maker, a special ed teacher in the NYC Public Schools and now teaches a kid’s Torah class in her synagogue through creative movement and crafty games.

She has transmitted some variation of herself to every age group, shared her sensibilities, always through play and fun and technique. She was the female lead in Nick Ray’s last feature film. She has worked with Scorsese and Wenders, and is still a complete unknown. Her best work is her mothering of 2 fabulous grown-up daughters!

Young@Heart literally fell into her lap last October like a wonderful dream come true, but better. She couldn’t be happier.

Born 1945 Palestine.

Graduate Hebrew University. 

Commercial Photography Studio specializing in Color.

After the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin emigrated to the United States.

He and his wife Liz live in Brooklyn and have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren.

Born in West Allis, WI (same as Liberace) and the middle of five children, (Michael. Kevin, Patrick, Barry and Joan) ptmc attended Waukesha's St Joseph Catholic School (7 years of choirboy status singing daily with weddings on Saturdays and Masses in Latin on Sundays) then Catholic Memorial High School, then graduated from UW - Milwaukee in 1972. Patrick taught high school English and theater through the 70s, and managed/artistic directed Waukesha Civic Theatre (1980-83 now in a $5 million landmarked facility) He started an acting career in Chicago 1983-95 before moving to NYC in 1995. Patrick played Scrooge in Christmas Carol many times in the US and Europe (1985- 2020). Since 2011, he has shifted to playwriting, currently developing the rock musical MASQUE: A Musical Revel (inspired by Poe's MASQUE of the RED DEATH)  with composer Jerico DeAngelo. Young@Heart NYC member since 2025.

Yvette Mercedes, a proud Nuyorican born in Manhattan, has built an impressive career in film and television. She has worked with legendary directors including Woody Allen in Sweet and Lowdown, Sidney Lumet in Night Falls on Manhattan and 100 Centre Street, as well as producers Spike Lee in See You Yesterday and Pedro Almodóvar in Shampoo Horns to name a few. Yvette starred opposite Natalie Portman and Zack Braff in Garden State; Jack Black, Billy Crudupp, Greg Germann and Denis Johnson in the adaptation of Johnson’s book Jesus’ Son; and Jessie Garcia and America Ferrera in Under the Same Moon. Her television credits include appearances in numerous episodes of the Law & Order franchise, The Sopranos, Third Watch, and High Maintenance. Her most recent film work includes a featured singing and dancing role in the opening number of the musical In the Heights, as well as a recurring part in Marvel’s Daredevil series. She is now making her debut in singing.

I was born in February 1947 in Santurce, Puerto Rico. In 1952, my parents moved to New York, and at age five I traveled with my Uncle Peter to join them. Though I was upset to fly without my parents, my uncle cared for me like his own daughter. We lived in Brooklyn before settling on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where I have spent most of my life.The love of music has been in my family since before I was born. My mother sang for soldiers in cafés in Santurce, where she met my father, who was serving in the Korean War. In New York, she hosted musical gatherings at home and even recorded a song on a 78 RPM record, though it was later lost. My father played guitar at church, and my Uncle Peter sang in a choir in Brooklyn. I discovered my own love for music as a teenager, listening to popular shows and singing doo-wop with friends. Later on, I found an appreciation for Spanish songs and now maintain a collection of albums in both languages. Since 2003, I’ve volunteered at the Henry Street Settlement where I lead a karaoke class. Music lifts my spirits, provides enrichment and just makes me Feel So Good.

My name is Regina Shopkorn. I am in my 70's. I worked as an accountant before retiring. I was born in Manhattan, NYC and still live there. I have been going to singing classes and Karaoke since 2019. I have taken ballroom and Latin dance classes and have been dancing for 43 years. My favorite dance is the Waltz. I also like painting cartoons and abstracts.

I was born in Lima, Peru and I finished my high school in Lima. I came to New York when I was 16 years old. I graduated from Hunter College, where I got my bachelor’s and master’s degree. I worked for the Board of Education for 30 years. I was forced to retire due to health problems. I spent 11 years on dialysis. It’s now been 5 years since I got a new kidney – I thank God for another chance of life. I thank God for a wonderful son. I’ve traveled a lot. I enjoyed life to the fullest and now as a senior I’ve joined some blessed senior centers where I’ve participated in many shows doing what I love most (singing). I love New York City. What else can I ask for?

Virginia is an American actress/singer of Chinese descent, born and raised during the Jim Crow era of the segregated, sometimes violently segregated Mississippi Delta. She is writing the story of growing up there, titled Chop Suey, Chitlins and Apple Pie. A documentary about her life, titled Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wing, will be released fall of 2026. Favorite stage roles and appearances include Amahl and the Night Visitors (Mother), The King and I (Tuptim), West Side Story (Maria), Flower Drum Song (Mei Li, Helen Chao) The Fantasticks (Luisa), Sleep No More the Musical (Lady Macbeth) – for which she was nominated for Hollywood NAACP Image Award for Best Actress – Uncle Vanya (Marina), The Tonight Shows with Johnny Carson (singer and on-the-couch guest). A big shoutout to Bob Cilman for giving us young singers the chance to keep on keepin’ on!
virginiawingfilm.com   performingartslegacy.org/wing

Zheng was born in Jilin, China. She graduated from the Chemistry Department at Jilin University, after which she worked as a journal editor at the university for 38 years, until her retirement. She came to New York City from Changchun, China in 2023. Since 2024 she has been singing with her friends at the Asian choir group at the Sirovich Center for Balanced Living. Now she has started singing with the Young@Heart. She really enjoys singing with a group of friends, and is also happily learning English. Her goal is to learn more about America's culture.