Staff

Diane Brennan Warner (dianewarner@cdyc.org)

CDYC Founder & Director Emeritus  (Retired 2023)

Diane B. Warner retired as the Director of Music for the Shenendehowa Central School District in Clifton Park, NY. Mrs. Warner previously taught in Scotia-Glenville, Schenectady City Schools and served as an adjunct instructor at Schenectady County Community College.

Mrs. Warner earned her B.Mus from Immaculata University in Pennsylvania where she was nominated to Pi Kappa Lambda (National Music Honor Society). She earned her MS in Music Education from the College of St. Rose and has done further graduate study at Westminster Choir College, Saratoga-Potsdam Choral Institute, and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Mrs. Warner is a certified NYSSMA vocal and choral adjudicator and a frequent choral clinician and conductor of All-County and Area All State Choirs. She served as the NY ACDA Repertoire and Standards chair for high school choirs, as well as serving as the chair for NYSSMA's Women's Choir and Treble Choir Music Selection Committee and the Urban Education Committee. She is a certified NYSSMA vocal and choral adjudicator.

Mr. Warner has been affiliated with Albany Pro Musica, the Octavo Singers, Capital Hill Choral Society, Schenectady Light Opera Company, and the Etude Club. Her many awards include five nominations to Who's Who in America's Teachers, two General Electric Starr Awards, two Shenendehowa staff recognition awards, the Schenectady High School Government Teacher of the Year award, and the Schenectady City School District's Teacher of the Year Award.

Lynn Reynolds Makrin (lynnmakrin@cdyc.org)

CDYC Artistic Director

Lynn Reynolds Makrin, Artistic Director, is a choral music educator who has taught with CDYC since 2007. Mrs. Makrin is a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton,  NJ; Rutgers University where she earned her Master of Music in Music Education; and The Kodály Institute at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. She is a certified Kodály Music Educator. Her education led her to study for a summer in Hungary at the Kecskemét Kodály Institute. Mrs. Makrin has worked with the Cantigas Women's Choir of Hoboken and the Voorhees Women's Choir of Rutgers University. 

Prior to college, however, she was raised in Schenectady, NY, and participated and studied in the choirs of Diane Warner at Linton High School. As a high school student she assisted with CDYC during their evening rehearsals and was in the choir as a singer at age 8.  Mrs. Makrin began her teaching career at the Mustard Seed School of Hoboken, NJ; The Hudson School of Hoboken, NJ; and the Little Red School House of lower Manhattan. She has served on the National Board of the Organization of American Kodály  Educators and is a lifetime member.  Mrs. Makrin is also a member of the American Choral Directors Association. Currently, Mrs. Makrin teaches elementary and choral music in the Gloversville Enlarged School District and formerly in the Greater Johnstown School District both in upstate New York. She serves on the leadership team of the Fulton County Music Educators Association as both participating educator and as treasurer. Mrs. Makrin is the recipient of a McCarthey-Dressman Education Foundation Teacher Development Grant for her collaborative work developing a Critical Friends Group between her public school districts. 

Mrs. Makrin serves as an Preaching Elder in the Reformed Church in America, and is a member of the First Reformed Church of Scotia, NY. She is also a new Masters of Divinity student at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mrs. Makrin is an award winning quilter, a member of her local quilt guild, and an avid fan of sailboat racing. She lives in Niskayuna with her husband and two children who both sang with CDYC. 

Mrs. Makrin is honored to lead this incredible team into the next 40 years of beautiful singing with the students of the Capital District Youth Chorale.

Iida Nyman

CDYC Choral Music Educator & Accompanist

Iida Nyman is an emerging Finnish-American pianist who has performed across New York and

Europe. Recent and upcoming highlights include engagements with the Mannes Sounds Festival,

Catskill Mountain Foundation, Semaine Internationale Piano et musique de chambre in

Switzerland, and Xiropigado International Summer Concerts in Greece.

In addition to being a solo pianist, she is also a sought-after collaborative pianist, performing

frequently with organizations such as Albany ProMusica, SUNY Schenectady, and numerous

local high schools. Ms. Nyman is currently the choir accompanist at First Reformed Church of

Scotia.

She holds degrees from SUNY Purchase (B.M. Piano Performance) and Mannes School of

Music (M.M. Music Theory and Piano Performance). A passionate advocate for period

instruments, Ms. Nyman was introduced to historical performance at the Academy of Fortepiano

Performance in 2023 and has returned every year since to deepen her expertise in period

instrument practice. Her primary teachers include Stephanie Brown and Matti Raekallio. Ms.

Nyman is currently an Adjunct Professor of Piano at SUNY Schenectady and is excited to be

part of the Capital District Youth Chorale team.

Ayla Goldman

CDYC Assistant Choral Music Educator

Ayla Goldman participated in The Capital District Youth Chorale for six years and graduated in the Spring of 2024. Starting in 2022, Ayla taught and conducted multiple small student led choral ensembles during her time with CDYC. Most recently she worked as the musical director for a high school band. Ayla has been the accompanist for the Doane Stuart middle and high school chorus since the Fall of 2023. Ayla is currently studying Biology at Siena College and music at SUNY Schenectady. She is eager to continue to work with CDYC and help bring the joy of music to children. When she is not playing the piano or singing, you can find her spending time with her chickens, crocheting, and sewing, or on the contra dance floor.