Music
Choir of Men and Boys
THE CHOIR OF MEN AND BOYS
The oldest such choir remaining in the United States, the Choir of Men and Boys consists of 8 men and 16 boys, ages 8-14, auditioned and selected from the New York metropolitan area, with diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. The boys rehearse several times each week and not only are paid but also receive incremental merit-based scholarships through the Anthony J. Mercede Scholarship Fund. The full Choir of Men and Boys sings most Sunday mornings at the 11:00 A.M. Mass. To arrange for an audition, contact Claudia Dumschat.
Grow with our Boys' Choir
The Church of the Transfiguration invites boys in the third grade and higher to join its
Choir of Men and Boys. An audition is required, but the primary requirement to join is an interest in music.
Boys rehearse twice a week and sing on Sunday at the 11:00 a.m. service. The Choirmaster will arrange rehersals at a convenient location such as school for boys who cannot attend midweek rehersals at the Church. In return for training in music, we ask each boy to commit to regular attendance.
Boys of all faiths are welcome in this nurturing, English-style Episcopal Church.
"Our choirboys love to do a lot more than sing"
Some Opportunities for Growth
• Develop a lifetime love and understanding of music, "the universal language"
• Discover and enhance talents
• Join with others to create something beautiful and thrilling
• Mature in self-discipline and group cooperation
• Grow in self-confidence from public performance
• Expand musical skills with free private tutoring
• Associate with professional musicians
• Share in a centuries-old tradition from England and Continental Europe
• Experience the history of Western civilization through music
• Celebrate with field trips and choir parties
Plus! Earn $5 allowance for each of two hour-long rehersals per week, and another $5 for the Sunday service. Beginning in the second year of participation, scholarships are awarded for each successful year in the choir: $400 after the second year, $800 after the third, $1,200 after the fourth, and $1,600 after the fifth and each year thereafter. Scholarships are made possible by the Anthony Mercede Scholarship Fund and annual fund raising.
Claudia Dumschat (Organist and Choir Director) has been an organist or choir director continuously at various churches since the age of 12, when she became the Music Director of her hometown church in Livingston, New Jersey. She has performed throughout the United States as well many countries in Europe. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Alec Wyton, Frederick Swann, McNeil Robinson, and John Walker. She also studied conducting privately with Dennis Keene and Giampolo Bracali.
Dr. Dumschat’s repertoire includes orchestral and choral music, chamber music, oratorios, and operas by major composers in the Western tradition up to the present day. Operas and music dramas she has conducted as Artistic Director of neXus Arts and at Transfiguration include Britten’s Curlew River, Noye’s Fludde, Company of Heaven; Menotti’s The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore; Händel’s Saul and Athalia. World premiere performances include Victor Kioulaphides’ The Gilded Cage and The Vision of Perpetua, Brian Schober’s Dance of the Stones, and the New York premiere of Stephen Hartke’s Tituli. Most recently, Dr. Dumschat was Music Director of The Play of Daniel and Britten’s The Prodigal Son here at Transfiguration.
In a New York Times review of an all-Bach concert, her playing was described as "brilliantly assertive." In a review of her recording, A Baroque Trilogy: Works by Bach, Brühns, and Buxtehude, the Web site bach-cantatas.com, wrote: "Ms. Dumschat is a wonderful Baroque performing artist. She misses none of the beauty of any of the eight works she performs, and her emotional depth and breadth are very impressive. When strength and power are called for, Dumschat fully delivers in resounding fashion. Another great attribute is her command of swirling rhythms which is so important for organ works; Dumschat conveys a mesmerizing quality." The Diapason, a national organists' magazine, wrote that she “played as the composers may very well have intended it: straight from the heart.”
Dr. Dumschat has been on the board of the American Guild of Organists and currently serves on the Council of the Episcopal Actors Guild, She is also Chair of the Music Committee of the Greenwich PEN Women.
Dr. Claudia Dumschat
The Church of the Transfiguration
One East 29th Street
New York, N.Y. 10016
(212) 684-4174