About the Camp
Begun in 1989, the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey's Diocesan Choir Camp is an annual celebration of music, worship and fun for choristers of all skill levels ages 10-18. Choristers return to beautiful Cape May, NJ each summer to focus on choral music, community building and mutually supportive Christian fellowship. Unique to this camp is the individualized attention chorister receive in a dynamic, creative, structured and hands-on setting, from caring instructors who are accomplished professionals in their areas of instruction. Rehearsals and worship services take place at the Episcopal Church of the Advent and choristers stay in the historic Holiday House, run by the Girl's Friendly Society of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. In addition to rehearsals and worship, free time activities include trips to the beach and boardwalk, an excursion to Cape May Mall, a scavenger hunt, and more. Camp concludes with a Choral Evensong attended by family, friends and the greater community.
Music Director
Mark Allen Trautman has served as Director of Music at St. John's Church in Somerville since September 2021. A professional church musician since his teens, he has a broad range of experience building and strengthening music programs and developing congregational song. He is an award-winning organist, and has performed throughout the United States, England, and Germany. He has been described as a “clear and communicative conductor” by Classical New Jersey and he has conducted at the State Theatre and George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark, and the Round Lake Auditorium in New York. He has also been a featured organist on CNN and New Jersey Public Television.
Mr. Trautman earned bachelor's and master's degrees in organ performance and church music with honors and distinction from Towson University in Baltimore and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, and studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, Germany. He studied piano with Michael Phelps at St Mary's College of Maryland, organ with Thomas Spacht and Eugene Roan, and orchestral conducting with Scott Whitener. He served for 11 years at Music Director of St. Paul's, Englewood, where founded the award-winning St. Paul's Choir School. Prior to that, he served Christ Church in New Brunswick for 17 years, and is responsible for commissioning their unique Richards, Fowkes & Company mechanical action pipe organ and developing a full time, multi-generational choral program and an award-winning concert series. He currently serves on the music faculty of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
He is in demand as a teacher, conductor, consultant, and guest lecturer, and has served as an adjudicator for events sponsored by the American Choral Directors’ Association, the American Guild of Organists, and the New Jersey Folk Festival.
Organist
Daniel Romero, CAGO, a Denver, Colorado native, is currently Director of Music at Grace Church in Newark, NJ. He holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Denver, where he was a student of Dr. Joseph Galema, and his undergraduate studies were with Dr. Joyce Shupe Kull, FAGO, at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Prior to his current position, Daniel served at Church of the Ascension in Denver, and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Barnstable, MA. He also served for ten years at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Denver. Daniel was a featured recitalist at the 2017 Convention of the American Institute of Organ Builders in Fort Collins, CO, the 2015 OHS Convention in Western Massachusetts, and the 2005 POE held in Denver. He is currently writing a history of the pipe organ in Colorado and documenting all pipe organs in the state. Daniel’s other interests include playing the theater pipe organ, organ building, running, cooking, travel, and history.
Vocal Coach
Giulia Utz is the Interim Director of the St. Paul's Choir School in Englewood. She most recently appeared as Mama Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera of the Hamptons. She has appeared as soloist with the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, American Lyric Theater, Canticum Novum Festival Singers, Voices of Ascension, the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra, and Bang on a Can All Stars. A specialist in early music performance practices she has appeared in baroque operas with the New York Continuo Collective as the Virgin Mary in a medieval mystery play at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and has directed medieval music performances at the Cloisters museum. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in voice from Youngstown State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in music from Sarah Lawrence College. She currently studies with former Metropolitan Opera soprano Atarah Hazzan.
Begun in 1989, the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey's Diocesan Choir Camp is an annual celebration of music, worship and fun for choristers of all skill levels ages 10-18. Choristers return to beautiful Cape May, NJ each summer to focus on choral music, community building and mutually supportive Christian fellowship. Unique to this camp is the individualized attention chorister receive in a dynamic, creative, structured and hands-on setting, from caring instructors who are accomplished professionals in their areas of instruction. Rehearsals and worship services take place at the Episcopal Church of the Advent and choristers stay in the historic Holiday House, run by the Girl's Friendly Society of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. In addition to rehearsals and worship, free time activities include trips to the beach and boardwalk, an excursion to Cape May Mall, a scavenger hunt, and more. Camp concludes with a Choral Evensong attended by family, friends and the greater community.
Music Director
Mark Allen Trautman has served as Director of Music at St. John's Church in Somerville since September 2021. A professional church musician since his teens, he has a broad range of experience building and strengthening music programs and developing congregational song. He is an award-winning organist, and has performed throughout the United States, England, and Germany. He has been described as a “clear and communicative conductor” by Classical New Jersey and he has conducted at the State Theatre and George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark, and the Round Lake Auditorium in New York. He has also been a featured organist on CNN and New Jersey Public Television.
Mr. Trautman earned bachelor's and master's degrees in organ performance and church music with honors and distinction from Towson University in Baltimore and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, and studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, Germany. He studied piano with Michael Phelps at St Mary's College of Maryland, organ with Thomas Spacht and Eugene Roan, and orchestral conducting with Scott Whitener. He served for 11 years at Music Director of St. Paul's, Englewood, where founded the award-winning St. Paul's Choir School. Prior to that, he served Christ Church in New Brunswick for 17 years, and is responsible for commissioning their unique Richards, Fowkes & Company mechanical action pipe organ and developing a full time, multi-generational choral program and an award-winning concert series. He currently serves on the music faculty of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
He is in demand as a teacher, conductor, consultant, and guest lecturer, and has served as an adjudicator for events sponsored by the American Choral Directors’ Association, the American Guild of Organists, and the New Jersey Folk Festival.
Organist
Daniel Romero, CAGO, a Denver, Colorado native, is currently Director of Music at Grace Church in Newark, NJ. He holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Denver, where he was a student of Dr. Joseph Galema, and his undergraduate studies were with Dr. Joyce Shupe Kull, FAGO, at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Prior to his current position, Daniel served at Church of the Ascension in Denver, and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Barnstable, MA. He also served for ten years at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Denver. Daniel was a featured recitalist at the 2017 Convention of the American Institute of Organ Builders in Fort Collins, CO, the 2015 OHS Convention in Western Massachusetts, and the 2005 POE held in Denver. He is currently writing a history of the pipe organ in Colorado and documenting all pipe organs in the state. Daniel’s other interests include playing the theater pipe organ, organ building, running, cooking, travel, and history.
Vocal Coach
Giulia Utz is the Interim Director of the St. Paul's Choir School in Englewood. She most recently appeared as Mama Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera of the Hamptons. She has appeared as soloist with the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, American Lyric Theater, Canticum Novum Festival Singers, Voices of Ascension, the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra, and Bang on a Can All Stars. A specialist in early music performance practices she has appeared in baroque operas with the New York Continuo Collective as the Virgin Mary in a medieval mystery play at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and has directed medieval music performances at the Cloisters museum. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in voice from Youngstown State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in music from Sarah Lawrence College. She currently studies with former Metropolitan Opera soprano Atarah Hazzan.