Dunava Singers

Dina Trageser is the founder and director of Dunava. She has sung with the Radost Folk Ensemble since 1999. She previously sang in various classical and folk choirs, including the Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble, Pacific University Chamber Singers (Oregon), Seattle Pro Musica, the Radost Women's Choir Kosava, and Russian vocal ensemble Pava.

Dina has been studying and singing Balkan Folk Music since 1997, and currently she also sings and plays tambura with Orkestar RTW. During daytime hours, Dina works as an editor and Web publisher. She lives with her partner Rusty Knorr in an elementary-school-turned-artists-community in Seattle.

Christi Proffitt has come to Balkan music after years of playing percussion and singing all over the world, including Scotland, Wales, and Mexico. She has been seen doing her vocal improv work at the Seattle Art Museum (accompanying The Gbpele Dance Ensemble), Folklife, Bumbershoot, and other smaller venues. Christi is also an accomplished actor, having returned to the world of theatre after a long sabbatical. She loves the haunting harmonies and passionate melodies of Dunava's repertoire, and hopes to discover more in the technique as she continues to sing.

Hila Lenz loves singing in Dunava and believes in the power of craigslist to bring musical groups together. Hila sang in the Borah High School Choirs under the direction of Ted Totorica and in the Seattle University Choirs under the direction of Joy Sherman. She has served as sometime-cantor at Ahavath Beth Israel synagogue in Boise, Idaho, and has sung with the Dickens Carolers.

Apart from irony (and singing), Hila enjoys language study, and hopes to become fluent in Arabic and to work and travel in the Middle East. Born in Israel, raised there and in Idaho, Hila is happy to make her home in Seattle.

Jill Cohen has been dancing and singing her whole life. She performed with the Sabra Dancers of Cincinnati and the Zivili Kolo Ensemble of Columbus Ohio. While living in Washington DC, Jill helped found Zemya Ethnic Dance Theatre. She performed with and managed Seattle's Radost Folk Ensemble before joining Dunava. Jill's favorite singing part with Dunava is when she gets to yip and bark like a dog!

At her synagogue, Congregation Beth Shalom, Jill is a shlicha tzibur, one who leads worship services by chanting traditional melodies. She is especially fond of Broadway musicals and cherished a childhood dream of dancing with the Rockettes. Standing only 5'5", she never made the height requirement.

Jody Rush has sung Balkan folk music for many years, and has been in numerous choirs in Seattle. With the now-defunct Balkan Choir Vecherinka (under the direction of Mary Sherhart) she sang at the Bulgarian music festival in Koprivshtitsa on the main stage once and nearly fainted. Prior to singing with Dunava, she directed the choirs Kosava and Dodole. She also sings in New Land Choir projects.

Jody lives in Redmond with her husband Brian, daughter Lidia, and Siamese, Guy.

Megan McPhaden joined Dunava in 2010. Her musical background includes years of singing with the Northwest Girlchoir, as well as harmonizing with her a capella group SCHWA while at Whitman College, and playing bluegrass banjo with friends. She loves learning about other parts of the world through music, and spent four months in India studying Hindustani classical singing with Mangala Tiwari in 2006. Meg is thrilled to now be singing with Dunava.

Meredith Selfon has been singing her whole life. Her first public performance was a Mary Poppins concert in her bedroom at the age of 3. Since then, she has sung in musicals, chamber choirs, show choir, opera casts, open mics, recitals, services, the car, the bathroom, and pretty much anywhere else she goes. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 2000, she moved to the beautiful Northwest, and never has a place felt more like home. Meredith auditioned for Dunava at the urging of a friend, and has been learning to pronounce Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian, and countless other Balkan languages ever since.

When she isn't singing, Meredith is a reference librarian, craft nut, blissfully wed, and proud momma.

Ramona McDowell Wijayratne grew up with vocal music and dance from East Europe. Both of her parents are still active in the Balkan folkdance community today, as are other members of her family. "I can't not like the music...it's ingrained in my very inner being," says Ramona.

Ramona also loves to dance. She is a member of the Radost Dance Ensemble and frequently has to stretch herself between the two performing groups and casual dancing with Seattle's Balkan folkdancers. She enjoys traveling and went to Bulgaria for a third time in the spring and summer of 2009. On this latest trip she had the unique opportunity to study Bulgarian vocal technique with Kremena Stancheva (Shope), Binka Dobreva Koteterova (Thrace), and Elichka Krastanova (Rhodope), three members of the famed Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares choir. She also spent time collecting songs from several villages in North Bulgaria and meeting fellow musicians in Serbia (Izvor, Belo Platno, and Danica Krstic) and Macedonia (Stefche Stojkovski).

Teodora Dimitrova is from Bulgaria, and she discovered the magic of Bulgarian folklore music when she was little listening her mother sing at home. Her interest in the music brought her to the “Philip Kutev” School of Music in Kotel, where she studied singing and tambura. After graduation she participated with the school choir and eventually became a piano instructor and assistant director of a choir at Elhovo.

Tedy moved to Lynnwood in 2007, were she now works as a piano instructor and participates in after-school programs with various schools in the Seattle area. She is very happy to have found Dunava, and to be able to continue to demonstrate the beauty of Bulgarian choir music.

Valerie Holt has been singing since age 5. She attended Interlochen Arts Academy and Western Michigan University, where she studied music, theatre, and dance. Valerie spent five years doing vocals and percussion with the Infernal Noise Brigade. She recorded two studio albums with the band and toured in Europe, Mexico and the U.S. Locally, she has also performed with Seattle Women’s Ensemble and the The Bicycle Choir. Valerie enjoy’s collaborating with other artists and has contributed musically to either live performance or recording projects with D9 Dance company, Dead Bird Movement, the Circus Contraption Band, and multi-media artist Filastine.

As a member of Dunava, Valerie is excited to be exploring the vast world of Balkan singing with such talented musicians and linguists. Currently, she can also be heard singing with the country/folk trio Rhinestones, who just finished their first studio album.