From Singers to World Travelers: How Brookhaven Pegasus Choral Society Opens Hearts and Minds
July 18, 2025
The Spring semester was hectic for Brookhaven Pegasus Choral Society as they prepared for back-to-back trips to New York City and South Korea. Pegasus Choral director and Dallas College music faculty Melody Gamblin-Bullock said these types of opportunities are valuable learning experiences.
“Diverse world communities that we meet through travel demand diverse forms of engagement, and the language of music is a great way to start a conversation. These trips are a testament to the success of our Dallas College music programs to attract skilled singers from across DFW,” said Gamblin-Bullock, explaining that the group combines traditional students and community members.
The concerts were testaments to the chorus’ many hours of preparation. “They just performed excellently. It’s one thing for me to know, it’s another thing for them to experience and recognize they are performing at an extraordinary level — seeing the value in their work,” said Gamblin-Bullock.
Live in Manhattan
Zelong Feng outside Carnegie Hall
At New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall, 16 members of the chorus performed “Misatango” with about 200 members of seven community choruses from around the world. Martin Palmieri, composer of the piece, invited Pegasus to participate in his Carnegie residency after learning the group had performed the piece on two prior occasions. Palmieri himself conducted.
“It was terribly exciting,” said Gamblin-Bullock. “I think it made the experience so much richer. Music often puts you in places that most people wouldn’t expect; these are the connections that come naturally to the performing arts.”
The Carnegie performance was the final crescendo to Zelong Feng’s time as a student at Brookhaven. Arriving in 2019 from China, Feng started out as an ESOL student and completed an Associate of Arts degree this past spring. In August, he begins studies at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
“I had heard about Carnegie Hall even when I was in China. When I heard my professor say that we have a chance to perform there, I couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream,” he said. As a vocal performer, learning other languages is important to Feng who enjoyed conversing with singers from France, Germany and Italy.
On-Tour in South Korea
One week later, the trip to South Korea had 21 members of the Pegasus Chorus on a performance tour to three cities, including collaboration with the Korean Chamber Orchestra of Daegu. Dallas College dance faculty member Emi Matsushita performed with two of the numbers: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the Korean piece “Mon-Nee-Joh.”
Professor Melody Gamblin-Bullock conducts Brookhaven Choral Society on stage in South Korea.
The Korean audiences were particularly engaged and touched to hear an American chorus sing the familiar Korean poem set to music. It is common for choruses to sing in other languages, explained Gamblin-Bullock, and learning to sing in Korean was no different from learning pieces they’ve performed in Latin, Italian, German, French and Spanish.
Choruses worldwide use International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to learn how to make sounds in other languages. And in this case, Gamblin-Bullock also brought native Korean singers into rehearsals to ensure they got it right.
She said travel helps students appreciate the similarities and differences in our cultures. They also come to realize that music really is an international language.
For Jaziel Cortez, the trip was his first time traveling overseas. And though he had been playing cello from the age of 11, joining Pegasus Chorus this year was his first experience singing. His favorite part of the trip was engaging with audiences at receptions before and after the performances.
“At a concert in Daegu we ate a home cooked Korean meal with the people who managed the church. It tasted amazing!” he said. “They were very thankful for us performing and that made me very happy and grateful to be there.”
Cortez reflected on how music is universal. “Even with language barriers, the tone, dynamics and overall texture of the music still come through, and they understand the emotion you are trying to convey,” he said. The trip to South Korea was Pegasus’ sixth international performance tour under Gamblin-Bullock’s direction. She takes the group abroad every two years.
“These travel performance courses are the expectation of a well-rounded choral program and reflect the quality of the programs at four-year institutions, professional organizations, and comparable community choruses throughout the region,” she said.
If you are a singer interested in joining Brookhaven Pegasus Choral Society, you can reach out to Gamblin-Bullock by email at MGamblin-Bullock@DallasCollege.edu.
Dallas College’s six other campuses also have vocal ensembles that combine student and community members: North Lake Vocal Ensemble (directed by Erica Simmons), Mountain View Vocal Ensemble (directed by Jackson Yandell), Cedar Valley Vocal Ensemble (directed by Pamela Dawson), Eastfield Vocal Ensemble (directed by Melinda Imthurn), Richland Vocal Ensemble and Jazz Singers (both directed by Andrew Evangelista), and El Centro Vocal Ensemble (directed by David Childs). Email CAEDInfo@DallasCollege.edu for more information.
Find out about other study abroad experiences at Dallas College.
Our campuses offer a variety of instrumental and vocal ensemble groups and programs. Learn more at DallasCollege.edu/Music.
- Campus News
