We welcome all singers in high school and older to join the Chancel Choir. Please contact Jon Riss ([email protected]; 914.330.8262) for more information.
Our Section Leaders:
Christina Rohm, Soprano
www.christinarohm.com
Soprano, Christina Rohm, has been called “outstanding” by Opera News and “fierce” by the Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Rohm’s opera credits from the standard repertoire include Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Cio Cio San (Madama Butterfly), Nedda (Pagliacci), Mimi (La Bohème), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Marguerite (Faust), Micaela (Carmen), Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Fiordiligi (Cosi Fan Tutte), Leonora (Il Trovatore), Floria Tosca (Tosca), Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffman), Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Alice Ford (Falstaff), and Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow). She has also appeared in several new operas including the title role in Claudia Legare by Robert Ward (New York stage premiere), Rachele in Il Caso Mortara by Francesco Cilluffo (world premiere), and Harriet Mosher in Emmeline by Tobias Picker (European premiere, televised on Mezzo TV in over 40 countries). Oratorio credits include the soprano solos in Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Faure’s Requiem.
Ms. Rohm earned her Master of Music at the University of Michigan where she was awarded a merit-based scholarship. She was a recipient of the Giardina Memorial Award for an Outstanding Young Artist; placed in the Dicapo Opera Vocal Competition; was an Illinois NATS winner; and was a finalist in the Liederkranz Competition, the Center for Contemporary Opera’s International Opera Singers Competition, the Career Bridges Competition, and the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera Competition.
In addition to serving as the IPC soprano section leader, Ms. Rohm also maintains a private voice and piano studio in Riverdale.
Nancy Rathbun, Soprano
www.rathbunvoice.com
Nancy Rathbun is a native of Washington DC. After receiving a bachelor’s in American History from Brown University and applying to law school, she realized, “What the heck am I doing? I don’t want to be a lawyer!” and decided to pursue a life in the field that she truly loved, music. She returned to school and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music, the second with a focus on performance practice, ornamentation and improvisation in the works of Handel.
After her music studies, she went on to sing with Glimmerglass Opera (including Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Marenka in Smetana’s Bartered Bride, and Lady Billows in Britten’s great comedy Albert Herring), with the Caramoor Music Festival (including Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Albina in Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, and Irene in Händel’s Tamerlano), the Aspen Music Festival (Fiordiligi again and Europe in Milhaud’s L’Enlèvement d’Europe), and Orlando Opera (including Donna Anna, Lady Billows, Ottavia in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, and the Female Chorus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia).
On the concert stage, highlights included singing the soprano solo in Britten’s War Requiem with the Britten Aldeburgh Music Festival, touring with the well-known conductor and musicologist Will Crutchfield in lecture/recitals devoted to the lieder of Franz Schubert (including appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), and singing excerpts from Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with the Joffrey Ballet. Nancy also won several competitions, including taking first place in the Oratorio Society of New York’s annual solo competition and the Serge Koussevitsky Competition. During her career, she performed with conductors including Crutchfield, John Miner, and Stewart Robertson as well as stage directors such as Jonathan Miller and Dorothy Frank Danner. She has recorded the role of Dido in Dido and Aeneas and was a soloist in the inaugural recording of William Byrd’s Great Service. After illness led to her retirement from the stage, Nancy moved to Sleepy Hollow, where she now teaches voice and has the great pleasure of singing as a soloist and section leader with the Irvington Presbyterian Church’s Chancel Choir.
Scott Lefurgy, Baritone
www.christinarohm.com/Scott_Lefurgy_bio.html
Scott Lefurgy, baritone, has sung with the IPC Chancel Choir since 2002. He has been a featured soloist with the Clarion Choir, the St. James’ Compostela Choir of New York City and the Detroit Oratorio Society. His oratorio credits include the Duruflé Requiem, Fauré Requiem, Howells Requiem, Schubert Mass in G, and Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor. His opera credits include Silvio (Pagliacci), Marcello (La Boheme), Marco (Gianni Schicchi), Grosvenor (Patience), and Samuel (Pirates of Penzance). He appears on the Clarion Choir’s recording of Steinberg: Passion Week (Naxos).
Dr. Lefurgy holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Columbia University and is presently an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Hofstra University, where he regularly sings for his students.