Saint Dominic Academy Glee Club
The Glee Club is one of Saint Dominic Academy’s oldest and most honored activities. Approximately twenty five percent of SDA students have been members of the Glee Club during Mr. Napoli’s long tenure at Saint Dominic Academy.
In December, 2004, The Glee Club performed a Christmas Concert in the Winter Garden Atrium at the World Financial Center. They were one of the first choirs to perform at this historic site following its restoration after the September 11, 2001 attack.
The Glee Club attends regional competitions every year and has won numerous Grand Championship awards.
On December 26th, 2015, members of the Glee Club traveled to Rome and performed at a New Year’s Day, 2016, World Peace Day Papal Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Basilica. On April 25th, 2016, members of the Glee Club joined the Dominoes in a performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria” in Carnegie Hall. They have also performed at Radio City Music Hall.
Membership in the Glee Club is based upon a voice placement audition to determine is a student will sing alto or soprano in the group.
The Dominoes
The Dominoes are a nationally renowned treble choir. They have performed, by invitation, many times at Carnegie Hall. Other notable New York City venues include Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the General Assembly of the United Nations, Saint Malachy’s Church in the theater district (the “Actor’s Chapel”), the Waldorf-Astoria, and Radio City Music Hall.
In January, 2008, the Dominoes were invited by the Barack Obama campaign to perform at Senator Obama’s appearance at Saint Peter’s College. The next day, the Dominoes sang for and met the future president.
Other high profile performances include a featured number with international star Andre Rieu at the Nassau Coliseum, and television performances on Fox 5’s Good Day New York and News 12 New Jersey’s “Sounds of the Season”.
They have performed at the prestigious New York Athletic Club and with the Newark Boys Chorus at Saint Aedan’s: Saint Peter’s University Church.
Locally, the Dominoes have performed Christmas concerts for over twenty years at the Jersey City Women’s Club, now Saint Dominic Academy’s Siena Hall, on Fairmount Avenue and many times at the Liberty House Restaurant’s “Snowflake Award Ceremony”, at various municipal tree lightings, for elderly members of the community and annually at the Cusack Care Center’s Blessing Tree Lighting ceremony.
All Dominoes are chosen from students who are already members of the Glee Club. Dominoes membership is based upon a more rigorous audition and members of the Dominoes perform with great frequency throughout the school year.
Mr. Joseph P. Napoli
Mr. Napoli has taught at Saint Dominic Academy since 1979. Mr. Napoli has also directed the Manhattan College Singers, Saint Peter’s College Glee Club and the Saint Dominic Academy Women’s Choir.
In 2005, the Council for American Private Education named Mr. Napoli New Jersey’s Non-Public School Teacher of the Year. In 2006, he was honored as Italian-American Educator of the year by the Bayonne Columbus Committee and was similarly honored by Jersey City’s Dante Alighieri Society in 2011. In November 2011, the Academy honored Mr. Napoli with the Dominican Pillar Award.
Mr. Napoli’s choirs have made two recordings; “A Saint Dominic Academy Christmas” (Dominoes, 2002) and “Voices of Winter” (Women’s Choir, 2006).