When Laurah Merisier started Miami Sound Choir (MSC) at the end of 2019, just under 40 people showed up for the first rehearsal, including her mother. A few months later, in the depths of the pandemic, the first independent venture by this music education graduate of the Frost School of Music was down to six people rehearsing online.
But Merisier persevered. Now the MSC has over 140 members from a dazzling gamut of backgrounds, ages, and cultures, who meet weekly to sing Cuban, Haitian, Brazilian, and other songs from Miami’s vibrant cultural panoply, as well as gospel, protest, and original music. They sing at community events, collaborate with other arts groups, and have performed at Carnegie Hall.
And Merisier has built a thriving, devoted community that is a testament to her belief in singing as an essential and profound expression of individual and shared humanity, which should be accessible to everyone regardless of talent or expertise.
“It’s who I am and how I understand the world, that we speak with our own voices to the world,” said Merisier. “For me, singing is a practice in mindfulness and being in my body. It makes me feel very human.”
MSC is the flagship group in Miami Sound Space, a non-profit that also encompasses the Threshold Singers, a small ensemble that sings at the bedsides of people who are dying and their families; The Bluebirds, made up of incarcerated men at the Everglades Correctional Institution; and the newest, Lullaby & Life, for parents and babies.
Juraj Kojs, an associate professor of composition, has collaborated with Merisier on several projects. He calls what she does extraordinary.
“Laurah’s commitment, compassion, leadership, and vision are profoundly inspiring,” Kojs said. “Through Miami Sound Space and the Miami Sound Choir, Laurah has created a truly transformative model of community music‑making. Her simple yet radical premise—everybody sings—democratizes the voice and fosters openness, authenticity, and shared joy. The organization has become a cultural phenomenon, deeply embedded in Miami’s fabric, building a vibrant community for whom music‑making is an essential part of daily life.”
Merisier’s vision evolved from her own life and developed with the help of faculty at the Frost School, where she sang in the choral program while getting a bachelor’s in music education in 2014.
The eldest of four children of two Haitian-American doctors, Merisier was raised mostly in South Broward. In fifth grade, her mother, who regularly sang to her children, had some vocal issues that left her mute for a year, and asked Merisier to take over singing lullabies to her little sister. Merisier discovered she had an aptitude for singing and joined the choir at Glades Middle School, where the teacher, who was legally deaf, would take off her shoes to feel the music's vibrations through the floor. Merisier moved on to Everglades High School, a school filled with students from Caribbean families, where choir instructor ShanPatrick Davis recognized her talent and made her a section and ensemble leader in a choir that sang advanced repertoire, including many African-American spirituals and contemporary music.
“I loved it and was good at it,” Meriser said. “I had an aptitude for music theory and music synthesis. There were many moments to exercise my leadership and learn with my peers. That was really empowering.”
At the Frost School, Merisier taught in the Donna E. Shalala MusicReach program and was a mentor with Guitars Over Guns, a youth music mentoring organization led by alumnus Chad Bernstein. She was inspired by Karen Kennedy, the director of choral studies, a joyful, beloved educator who’d kick off her shoes to conduct, and lost her life to cancer in 2020.
“She was so inside the music,” said Merisier, who is now an adjunct instructor in contemporary voice at the Frost School. “I think that music and group singing were Karen’s spirituality; that’s how she felt and understood people in the world. She existed to make beautiful music with her students. Even though her life was cut short, she fulfilled her values every single day.”
Merisier was also influenced by music education professor Carlos Abril. “He was adamant that who you are needs to be present for your students to learn,” Merisier said. “I wouldn’t feel the same freedom of expression in my teaching if it weren’t for him.”
Merisier taught in several Miami-Dade schools before getting a master’s degree in music education at Florida State University in 2019, where she sang in the 300-member Tallahassee Community Chorus and learned about the concept of “sound space,” a term for how the physical environment affects the way humans make sound, in a musicology class. Together, they propelled her to launch Miami Sound Space.
It has become a thriving, joyful embodiment of Merisier’s values. MSC members range in age from 20 to 70-something, from baristas and former opera singers, non-profit directors and retired nurses, mothers and daughters. Anyone can join, paying on a sliding scale starting at $50, to participate in the fall or spring seasons. The group performs everywhere from farmers’ markets to local bars to Miami Art Week projects to a Neil Diamond singalong.
“We have a wide range of ages, languages, and experience,” said Merisier. “We have professional musicians and complete novices. What they have in common is either a love for singing or a deep thirst for community.”
Members quench that thirst at karaoke and potluck parties, outings to concerts and plays, and a stream of invitations on a busy WhatsApp chat to everything from stargazing sessions to member performances. Volunteers organize group activities and fundraise. Members’ dedication enabled Merisier to raise funds to bring the MSC to Carnegie Hall last summer to perform in the National Choirs of America In Harmony event. Recently, WPLG Channel 10 featured MSC in a series called “What Connects Us.”
Rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex (LHCC). Merisier, who often conducts barefoot, is a charismatic, playful leader who balances encouragement with high expectations, and explains how a song's cultural origins shape its meaning and sound.
“Miami Sound Choir rehearsals are a rare compression of joy,” said Luli de Oto, who joined the group with her mother this winter. “Part vacation, part dance floor, part group therapy, part stand-up comedy, and part restoration of the spirit. In the span of two hours, something quietly transformative takes hold.”
The group's sold-out, season-ending December concert at the LHCC featured Celia Cruz’s joyful Latin dance classic “La Vida es un Carnaval,” the gospel-style Civil Rights anthem “Freedom is a Constant Struggle,” and Colombian folkloric ensemble Paz y Flora leading a giant dancing and singing circle on the outdoor plaza.
“With Miami Sound Choir, I want to sing songs that represent Miami,” Merisier said. “That speak truth about who we are and tell our story. Because only the people can tell their own story.”
