Regan is the Director of Choral Activities at Transylvania University. She sings with the Kentucky Bach Choir.
Regan: “I remember you asking me for my thoughts on being a choral director in the time of COVID. My thoughts are not that positive. In fact, I’ve been navigating a terrible grief at the prospect of not singing in a choir or working with my choirs for possibly a year. For so many singers, having that sense of community—a safe space to be immersed in something you love while at the same time being completely yourself—is required (and anticipated with joy) weekly for mental, spiritual, and physical health. This virus has stolen that joy from every singer in the world; every choral director is mourning the absence of their choir. I know that we will make it through this pandemic, that life will return to something resembling normal at some point in the future, but that doesn’t change the very real grief of breathing alone when you’re used to a collective inhale, of singing in isolation when you gain so much strength from singing in community, of laughing with friends who need singing in their lives as much as you. I have faith and hope that we will sing again, in a vastly different world; but for now, our voices are silent to protect our loved ones and ourselves.”