Chris Dudley, countertenor

If there's anything Chris Dudley enjoys more than singing countertenor at the National Cathedral, it's driving the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad's truck through traffic, lights flashing and airhorn blaring, on a mission to save someone who's fallen down stairs or suffered another medical emergency.

"You get your adrenalin rush driving that truck," he says. "Sometimes you save a life; sometimes you don't, but you feel great the next day. I love this rescue squad with 150 active volunteers and all this positive energy."

Chris's service as an emergency medical technician (EMT) is just one aspect of his life in America after growing up in England as the son of two professional singers. He will be the countertenor soloist, singing in the alto range, in the New Dominion Chorale's performance of Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" at a concert May 16 at the Rachel Schlesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria.

The Bernstein piece calls for a boy soprano, but Thomas Beveridge, artistic director of the New Dominion Chorale, usually chooses a countertenor for the part. "The boy soprano's voice often changes the day before the concert," he jokes. In the concert, Bernstein's work is paired with Beveridge's own "Symphony of Peace," a plea for world peace.

With a grandfather who sang at the Met and a father who was an outstanding operatic tenor, Chris Dudley would seem destined to make his living as a musician, but it wasn't a sure thing. His mother is a Maryland native focused on early music; his father an Australian from Sydney. They claim to be retired, but Chris says they manage to stay active in the world of music.

Chris was sent to boarding school as a chorister at Windsor Castle in England at an early age. He and the other young choristers sang at chapel services every day and gave special performances for Queen Elizabeth. Years later he ran into the Queen at his choir-school reunion in 2001. While the other alumni were playing cricket, he set off on a tour of the castle grounds and encountered the Queen, who was out walking her seven corgis. When he asked if he could accompany her on her lengthy stroll back to her car, she replied, "Oh, please do!"

From Windsor Castle, Chris went on to music school and eventually to the University of East Anglia, where he studied music with a minor in psychology. As a choral scholar at Norwich Cathedral in 1998 he discovered his niche as a countertenor. "Bass was not working out for me, and countertenor was the next best thing," he explains.

"I moved here to the States in 2001 to break away from music," he reports. "Psychology was great, but I overloaded myself and went back to music at the National Cathedral." During his first three years in Washington, Chris was a rehabilitation counselor in addition to singing at the National Cathedral. "When I first came here, I knew nobody, but I had to make a living," he says. "It was a poor existence for a while."

Countertenors are a dime a dozen in England, where there are as many as four in each church choir, but in America they're as scarce as hen's teeth. "If you can find a countertenor's job here you're lucky," he says.

Chris found steady work as a Lay Clerk (gentleman vocalist) in the National Cathedral's choir. There are daily services at the cathedral and special concerts during Christmas and Easter. He fleshes out his income from the cathedral by giving voice lessons to students. He's also active in the Countertop Quartet, a musical ensemble he formed with another countertenor and other voices in the upper range of choral singing.

Soon after arriving in Washington, Chris found himself with extra time on his hands and looked for a place to volunteer. He wanted to work with mentally disabled children, but he lacked the certification required in America. Then one day he drove past the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad headquarters, where there was a sign reading, "Opportunity of a Lifetime!", and his fate was sealed.

Despite the heavy commitment of time and energy to EMT classes, Chris signed up for the rescue squad. He got more than he bargained for. He met a young Nepali woman who is also a volunteer, and the couple is newly engaged. They plan to be married here in Washington and also in Nepal on the back of an elephant. A happy ending for a countertenor who likes to drive a rescue truck!

Photos by Sam Corl

Benjamin Warschawski, tenor

Benjamin Warschawski, a world-renown cantor and opera singer, is a featured soloist in New Dominion Chorale's May 16 concert, "Beveridge and Bernstein."

The concert, featuring works by American composers based on the Old Testament and the synagogue service, takes place at 4:00 pm, Sunday, May 16, at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall on the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College, 3001 N. Beauregard St.

Mr. Warschawski, who has thrilled audiences worldwide in 18 leading tenor roles with the New York City Opera and other major companies, is the tenor soloist in Thomas Beveridge's choral symphony, "Symphony of Peace," for chorus, soloists and large orchestra. Sharon Christman is the soprano soloist and James Shaffran, in the bass-baritone role.

Also on Sunday's program will be Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," with countertenor Chris Dudley in the rarely-heard version for full orchestra.

"Symphony of Peace," based on Biblical texts, is a musical plea for world peace. The words are almost all from the Old Testament - the only exception being the words of Jesus, when referring to commandments found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, saying, "This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like unto it." Those familiar with synagogue ritual will see that the text comes mainly from the Torah Service, which is spoken whenever the Torah Scroll is removed from the Ark.

Mr. Beveridge, whose catalogue of works includes more than 600 compositions and arrangements, worked on this piece for more than 30 years. The texts, all in English, include familiar psalms 121 and 23 and the famous passage from the prophet Micah: "They shall beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruninghooks," which features five percussionists playing on anvils, brakedrums and other assorted metal instruments.

Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," a cantata with texts from the Book of Psalms in the original Hebrew, was written for the choral festival at Chichester Cathedral in Sussex, England. It received its premiere in 1965 and is the composer's most-performed choral work. The work is characterized by lively rhythms and lush melodic passages.

Mr. Warschawski, whose singing jobs keep him on the road five or six months of the year, has a demanding, unconventional lifestyle. His home is his RV, which he keeps parked on the grounds of the Ezra Habonim/the Niles Township Congregation in Chicago, where he is the Chief Cantor.

His "yacht-on-wheels" is a 37-foot motor coach on a purpose-built RV pad, complete with a roll-up piano (although he has two conventional pianos in the synagogue).

Warschawski describes himself as a "whole hog kind of person," something that comes across as he talks about how eh enjoys his peripatetic life style. It is his home, a place of peace he escapes to after singing demanding roles in major opera houses around the country.

His busy schedule demands stamina. For example, he has a singing engagement in Cincinnati the Saturday night before his Sunday performance with New Dominion Chorale in Alexandria. He will arrive at the Schlesinger Center in Alexandria in time for the 4 pm performance. He will have rehearsed with Mr. Beveridge and the other soloists a couple of times in the weeks before the concert, but with the Chorale and orchestra only once before the performance.

"He is a professional and one of the finest tenors around," said Mr. Beveridge, Artistic Director of New Dominion Chorale. "The combination of his cantorial experience and his operatic experience is invaluable. Like most cantors, he has a lot of stamina -- you can really count on him."

When preparing for a major piece like "Symphony of Peace," Warschawski doesn't think so much about the global significance, rather, he focuses on creating a cathartic experience for the audience. He believes in the power of music to bring people together, to help them put their ideologies aside and see their humanity in a broader, gentler context. Warschawski sees "Symphony of Peace" as a tone painting, full of historical musical echoes from across the 30 year period of its creation.

"It is a joy to sing with Tom Beveridge," he said. "He is both a musician and a singer's conductor."

As a cantor, Mr. Warschawski began his journey to the pulpit as a teenager, singing in the prestigious Beth T'filoh Choir in Baltimore. In 1997 he received the title of Reverend Cantor from the Cantorial Council of America at the Belz School of Music, Yeshiva University. That same year he assumed the pulpit at The Ner Tamid/Greenspring Valley Synagogue in Baltimore, a post he held for five years, followed by a two year position at B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Florida. Cantor Warschawski has concretized extensively with virtually every major cantor and renowned Jewish singer singing today.

Mr. Warschawski comes from a line of Jewish scholars, teachers, and cantors. His maternal great-grandfather, Leo Nussbaum, founded the Hebrew school in the city of Bocholt in Westfalen, Germany, where he was teacher/Rabbi until shortly before the war. Cantor Warschawski's paternal great-grandfather, Moise Loeb, was a Chazzan, teacher, and shochet in Benjamin's hometown of Basel, Switzerland.