History & Leadership
History
TRANScend began as a choral project during director Felix Graham’s doctoral studies. Concerned at the lack in representation of gender-diverse singers in choral music and the broader field of music education, he became involved in scholarship and experimentation with gender-nonconforming voices in choral spaces. One such project was a semester-long treble ensemble project, wherein he recruited, rehearsed and conductor a concert with a treble ensemble where male and female-identified singers performed in a less hierarchical choral format. Realizing that taking the gendered structure out of choir made for more inclusive choral experiences, Dr. Graham started advocating for alternate choral structures.
When COVID-19 disrupted his work with the treble ensemble (which had continued past his graduation), Dr. Graham realized that the time was right to create a more professional space for trans/gender-expansive singers, and in this, TRANScend was formed. The first concert (in 2021) featured eight tentative singers and a surprisingly robust audience. The most recent concert (2023) has expanded to two separate ensembles (a community chorale, and a semi-professional chamber ensemble) with an audience that has tripled.
In the period of three years, we’ve commissioned multiple new works, created a large-scale choral work for Trans Day of Remembrance, sung at a night club, a festival, and multiple other non-traditional spaces — not to mention singing the national anthem for a Major League Soccer game and being featured in a documentary film. We’re the first trans ensemble to sing the liturgy in an Episcopalian mass, and we’ve been putting trans voices and trans perspectives in musical spaces all over New York City and its surrounds.
Leadership
Dr. Felix Graham
Dr. Felix Graham is a New York-based performer, teacher, conductor and author. In addition to his work as a performer, Dr. Graham is active in research and performance, as well as music education and conducting. As a vocologist, his pedagogy focuses on vocal health and retraining, as well as guiding clients in reconciling their voice and personal identity. As an active researcher in the areas of voice science and vocal/choral music education, Felix has presented both at home and abroad on such topics as singing voice disorders, developmental voice and non-hierarchical choral approaches.
Prior to this position, he conducted the Cardinal Chorus and music instruction at York College, CUNY, taught choral methods and applied voice at Teachers College, Columbia University, served as musical director for the off-Broadway production Love is a Many-Splintered Thing, and currently serves on the editorial board of the Voice and Speech Review, and as Vice President of the New York Singing Teachers Association.