Hey everyone, some of you might recognize my face from my sbrukh profile. Unfortunately, 4 days ago my account got hacked and my reputation on that account is being destroyed as we speak. I also lost nearly 700 SBD, but that isn't the most frustrating part.

I am the Artistic Director of the Verdigris Ensemble, a professional choral organization exploring the boundaries of the choral medium through creative concert programming, unconventional use of space, decentralized music distribution, and modern instruments. Here are a few videos:

In the last year, we have been written about in the Dallas Morning News, 90.1 KERA, 101.1 WRR, NPR, TheaterJones, and a few others. VoyageDallas Magazine named us one of the "Most Inspiring Stories in Dallas." Our popularity in Dallas has grown tremendously in one year and we have successfully crowdfunded nearly $30,000 to sustain our operations for our 2017-18 season. Reviews of our concerts have consistently been very positive. If you would like to see the articles, please visit http://verdigrismusic.org/press. Here are a few quotes:

Steemit was the first place I posted about my adventures starting Verdigris. Here is the original post I wrote:

https://steemit.com/life/@sbrukh/i-am-starting-a-non-profit-choral-organization-and-i-want-to-tell-you-how-terrified-i-feel-sharing-my-passion-with-the-world

Along with doing innovative performances, this year we were dedicated to specific outreach initiatives this year. We sang music at Music&Memory facilities (we were used as a memory tool for Alzheimers and Dementia patients), for kids at libraries and events, and even did outreach to a middle school where we taught 400 8th graders to sing some of the music from our most recent concert.

When I started posting to Steemit, my goal was not only to share our progress, but to see if we could diversify our financial portfolio within our 501(c)(3) non-profit organization by raising funds using this platform.

We started out by including our blog posts but then also added choral music listening posts that educated the Steemit community about the breadth and diversity of vocal music. Here is an example:

https://steemit.com/music/@sbrukh/choral-music-estonia-one-of-the-richest-choral-traditions-in-the-world-raua-needmine-veljo-tormis

Heres where the most frustrating part comes in. That 700 SBD was supposed to go toward our 2018-19 season. I know that that may not be a whole lot, but it was certainly a start. One that we could have used for marketing and spreading the word about our organization. I requested for my account to be recovered 4 days ago but no word from Steemit yet.

I am so thankful for the support of the Steemit community and for all of your encouragement. If not for your encouraging comments and messages, we would not be where we are today. You have taught me perseverance and to not give up even when the going gets tough. To more successes in the future!

Here is a link to my original bio:

https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@sbrukh/7t4aum-hello-steemit-people-my-name-is-sam-brukhman-and-this-is-who-i-am