Zan Ottaway went to the Columbia School for General Studies for her B.A. in music, and to NYU for her Masters degree in Music Ed: Vocal (K-12). She taught for one year at the Nightingale-Bamford School (92d between 5th and Madison), and five-and-a-half years at the Children's Storefront School, a tuition-free, private school in Harlem (129th st. between Park and Madison). During that time she recorded folk-rock tapes of her music and had five songs produced in a musical, called Stuff of Legends (1995), at a H.S.-level drama school based in Norwell, MA.

She also sang in and accompanied adult choruses (1992-2003); and spent about three years accompanying for the New Amsterdam Boys Choir, now at Church of St. Edward (109th St. between Madison and Fifth Avenue), which was founded my James Backmon in 1985. They've performed Zan's "Psalm 77", and she wrote her Mass for the New Amsterdam Boys Choir in the fall of 2001. It was beautifully arranged and expanded by Tomoko Kawamukai, for her trio of flute, cello and piano, Ensemble TOKI, and for tenor solo, sung by Darryl Taylor. The NABC performed it on April 17, 2005.

Ms. Ottaway now plays chamber music at the Lucy Moses School, next to Merkin Hall, and still accompanies instrumentalists and singers frequently throughout Manhattan. She looks forward to collaborating with Ms. Kawamukai on other pieces, and to completing piano variations on a solo by her father.

Click selection below to hear a song Zan wrote for her husband

Hard to Leave  (3.2mb)

Click selections below to hear "Mass for the New Amsterdam Boys Choir"

Kyrie  (3.7mb)

Gloria  (2.9mb)

Credo  (3.9mb)

Sancta Vita  (2mb)

Agnus Dei  (5.6mb)