Ev Natacha

Ev Natacha, our alto section lead, is an only child born and raised in North Vancouver, BC. She attended Queen Mary Elementary followed by high school at Carson Graham.  Being naturally soft-spoken and somewhat shy during her formative years — music (more specifically singing), provided Ev with an outlet for expression and solace.

Throughout high school, significant participation in the choral program, along with modern ballet and theatre made those 5 years a wonderfully delicious time. Performing on stage enabled her to come out of her shell, as well as travel to far off places such as Japan and throughout Europe for various International Music festivals and concerts.

Upon graduation, Ev enrolled in the Classical Voice Diploma Program at Vancouver Community College (VCC) she then transferred to the Vancouver Academy of Music (VAM) to complete her BA in Opera Performance.

At age 22,  just after university, Ev courageously set out for a backpacking solo around Europe, gallivanting cobble stone streets, serenading the birds, bees and trees along the way with her trusty guitar in hand and a song in her heart.  Once back home, Ev began frequenting open mic nights, performing her original tunes and networking with other local singer-songwriters — later recording and releasing a full-length CD of originals titled “Ready To Fall”.

As most creatives require a “day job” Ev is currently employed as a Medical Office Assistant at a busy Podiatry Clinic in West Vancouver, which she loves because the clerical work balances out her creative endeavours.

In her private life, Ev is a huge fitness fanatic and a self-proclaimed “gym rat” with weightlifting and strength-training being her primary focus.

Where might you find Ev on a sunny day off? Most likely singing and playing her guitar under a tree.  It’s her peaceful time.

Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin was born in Prince George, but her family moved to Nanaimo in 1973 where she lived for 7 years. Her parents parted and in 1980, she moved to Vancouver at age 15 to live with her father. She attended Britannia high school and since then, has lived in East Vancouver. She is currently working as a library assistant at the Vancouver Central library.

Kathy’s family includes a younger sister who lives on Vancouver Island. Kathy herself is married with one adult daughter, and has a 2-year-old granddaughter for whom Kathy and her husband are devoted babysitters.

Her family has always been musically inclined. Kathy’s mum was a professional pianist who played in high-end restaurants; her specialty was jazz standards — everything from the ‘20s to the ‘80s. Kathy’s father enjoyed harmonizing with herself and her sister; his preferred style of music was primarily from the ‘60s and ‘70s. All kinds of music, though, was enjoyed by the entire family. From a very young age, Kathy tells me she harmonized to all sorts of sounds whether it was a train whistle, radio jingles, or even a plane overhead!

Kathy started playing guitar when she was 11 but only had a couple of lessons as she learned to play entirely by ear by playing along with songs on the radio. Her singing journey, however, didn’t start until she was an adult and joined her first choir — an a cappella folk/world music choir that sang in over 20 languages.

Since then, she has sung tenor or baritone in countless folk groups, choirs, and choruses. In 2011 Kathy was introduced to Barbershop quartet singing — famous for their style of harmony which certainly fit with her natural talents. In 2012, she was invited to join an all men’s choir: "The Vancouver Thunderbird Chorus”. She was the only woman in the chorus and she sang baritone. It has now become a mixed choir and she still sings with them.

In 2013, she joined an a cappella quartet called “Second Inversion.“ Her quartet placed 1st in the 2018 Barbershop Division contest representing BC and Washington. They continue to do performances around the lower mainland.

In addition, she belongs to a folk trio called "Fraser Union" which has a strong emphasis on vocal harmonies, guitars, and mandolin. Their repertoire draws heavily from Canadian sources which focus on people's struggles, triumphs, and social justice. They have a strong presence in the Vancouver folk scene, and encourage audience members to sing along with them!

A significant change in her life was at age 47 when she quit her full-time job in order to devote the next three years to study music full-time at Vancouver Community College School of Music. At age 50 she graduated, college diploma in hand. Interestingly enough, even though Kathy had voice lessons for three years at school, she will still occasionally take singing lessons, since she recognizes that over the span of one’s lifetime, the voice can change.

How did Kathy arrive in our midst? In 1996, she joined Alison’s Summerchor as the only female tenor (this was a bigger deal back then!). It was there where she met her husband in 1997 . . . and, of course, Alison then asked if she’d like to sing with our choir as our tenor section leader.

We’ve had Kathy with us since 2022. We hope she remains as part of the NSUC family!

Diana Diaz

Diana grew up in Tampico, Mexico, the youngest of four daughters. She left the family home in 1994 to study at the University of Guadalajara where she took four years of Biology followed by another four years to obtain her Music degree.

Diana auditioned and won a chance to pay for another year at the Royal Toronto Conservatory of Music. Consequently, she and her husband moved to Toronto for the year.

Her husband was keen to emigrate permanently to Canada , but she preferred to return to Mexico . (She wasn’t keen on Toronto’s winter weather!) Nevertheless , her husband had made application for them to immigrate. It was when she was away on an opera tour that he notified her that their applications had been approved! To complete the process, they then had to go back to Mexico and return over land via Buffalo to the Canadian border crossing. There was a 6 month grace period for them to confirm their desire to remain in Canada as landed immigrants.

Diana’s husband wished to remain in Toronto, but in 2009 Diana chose to leave him and set out Vancouver with only two suitcases. Initially she stayed at the ‘Y’ in Vancouver, but since it was suggested she would like North Vancouver as a place to live, she found accommodations and a job at Home Hardware in North Vancouver.

Diana admits to being a handy person who likes to repair things. It obviously has suited her well as she has been at Home Hardware for 13 years, working her way up to the Manager position. Diana has been seeking a change though and will start as a Home Support Worker with VCH in a few weeks.

How did Diana end up as our church’s lead soprano? When first settling in Vancouver, Diana sought out a music connection and first took voice lessons. From there she was referred to audition with the Vancouver Jewish choir where she sang for 11 years. She spent a year, as well, with the Vivaldi choir and then joined the St Andrew’s choir under Daryl Nixon (husband of our Music Director). From there, of course, she met Alison and joined NSUC’s Vox Lumina choir.

Sadly, in the midst of the Covid pandemic in 2022, Diana’s mother died, leaving her father alone in Tampico. With that tragedy — and having a full time job plus many singing engagements — Diana felt the pressure was too great, so she stepped down from many of her previous activities. Fortunately though, she swears that she is ours to keep, as she has found not only great friendship here but finds our beliefs align with hers.

Pavol Simoncic

Pavol Simoncic, one of our Choir Section Leads, was born in Czechoslovakia in Slovak town Trnava in 1958. He had two sons by his previous marriage: Adam (who lives in Bratislava, Slovakia), and Lukas (who studied at Oregon State University but now lives in Zurich, Switzerland). Pavol moved to Vancouver in 2009 to be closer to his son who was then living in Oregon.

Once here, Pavol needed to to study English in order to establish himself in the musical field. He already spoke Slovak, Czech, and Russian — and also speaks some German, Italian and Latin.

Pavel obtained his Masters Degree in Music Education in Bratislava in 1982. It took nearly 2 years before he was able to find paying work in the field of music. Finally, he joined the Vancouver Bach Choir and it was there that he met Hans Krebs, who became a friend and ultimately invited him to sing one afternoon for the Krebs family. There, he met other members of our church community ….people such as John Biasucci, Brian Wellwood, and Brian McConnell. Through them, he was invited to participate in the North Shore Unitarian choir, Vox Lumina.

Pavol also has been teaching privately but is known internationally as a singer, choir director and educator. Currently, he is a member of a soloist ensemble of opera companies Opera Opulenza and Opera Mariposa. He helps as a section leader in Vox Lumina, and he directs the Vancouver-based Greater Moravia Choir which includes by Slovak and Czech members born in Czechslovakia who live in Vancouver.

Before settling in Vancouver, Pavol performed as a professional singer with the Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, as well as the Slovak National Theatre Opera Chorus rehearsing under the batons of well-known conductors Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta and Seiji Ozawa... in more then 30 countries all over the World!

Pavol‘s life outside of his intense interest in music includes activities such as cycling and  swimming, and he follows a regular fitness schedule. He reads fiction as well as astronomy, astrophysics, philosophy, and history. Given these interests, perhaps Pavol might like to do a talk for us on astrophysics!

Catherine Tseng

Catherine joined us as our pianist and choir accompanist in 2019. Prior to this, she has had a long history of musical training and accomplishments.

Catherine moved here from Taiwan at age 12 with her parents and younger brother. In Taiwan, her mother felt she had musical talent and sent her to audition for a school for talented children. She had been playing piano already from the early age of 5.

At this school, she was required to learn three instruments so besides piano, she was taught violin and another instrument called Er-hu.

In Canada, she attended Semiahmoo secondary school grades 8-12, but from age 12 was also attending the Vancouver Academy of Music — and then later, UBC School of Music. From there she received numerous scholarships and awards including first prize at the Canadian Music Competitions at age 13.

Catherine performed as a piano soloist at the 2010 Winter Olympics and also has performed with various symphonies and concerts in major venues in Vancouver.

Currently, she is a professional pianist who accompanies instrumentalists, singers, ballet performances as well as ballet lessons and exams. She also teaches piano and accompanies two other choirs besides our own.

Asked if she practices much, she replied, “Only if it is a particularly difficult selection.”

Does she get nervous before preforming? “Not really, as long as I have my music organized.”

In her personal life, she likes yoga and is a strong swimmer (60-80 laps!) She reads a lot, and enjoys occasional movies.

How did we get so lucky at NSUC? Another pianist mentioned to her we were seeking an accompanist. She applied and auditioned with Alison. We are fortunate indeed.

Something I found charming was that during Covid when we held Zoom services, Catherine made a point of dressing in her formal gowns when she played for us!