In the movie “Sister Act,” Whoopi Goldberg leads a choir of nuns to glory through songs that delight a toe-tapping Pope.
Now the Blackhawk Chorus will get its chance to inspire the new Pontiff when it presents a liturgical program at the 5:30 p.m. Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on June 14.
“It’s a huge privilege,” said Diane Gilfether, director and founder of the choral group. She hastened to add that they do not expect Pope Benedict XVI to be there when they sing but it was thrilling nonetheless to be performing at the Vatican at this time.
Gilfether, a critically acclaimed lyric-coloratura soprano, spent years regaling opera fans throughout the world, performing title roles on stages in the United States, Canada and Europe. She settled in Blackhawk in 1986, weary of demanding travel schedules, and jumped into another fast-paced career – real estate. But word of her singing talent spread throughout the community.
“A group of women knew my background and contacted me,” recalled Gilfether, who has a master’s degree in voice performance from Holy Names University. “They said they would like to learn how to sing.”
It began casually. She invited them over and gathered some chairs in her living room, expecting to lead the group for a night or two. But soon the chorus took on a life of its own.
“The first year we had from 12 to 25,” Gilfether said. “It was still in my living room.” And it was all women.
During the second year, Gilfether decided to allow men to join. “It opens up the literature,” she explained. “Some of the husbands came, five or six men, and we carried on from there.” Soon some 40 people were gathering in her living room, and she knew it was time to find a real rehearsal spot.
Since 1991, the group has grown to be 140 voices strong. Gilfether noted that the large group barely fits on the stage at Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.
“Our standards are getting higher every year,” Gilfether said. “They audition, and I pick and choose from the better voices, looking for people with vocal experience. It’s a lovely group of people.”
The members have become like a family, she explained. Most live in Danville, Alamo and San Ramon, but others travel from as far as Half Moon Bay and Sacramento. They perform four to five concerts in each of their two seasons – fall, which includes holiday concerts, and spring.
The Blackhawk Chorus opens its 2005 spring season May 14 with a dinner concert, “An Evening of the Music of Cole Porter and George Gershwin,” at the Blackhawk Country Club. The following Friday, it will give the same concert to benefit St. Isadore’s School music program, at 7 p.m., Friday, May 20. That Sunday afternoon it performs at the Regional Center for the Arts.
The Blackhawk Chorus also gives a private performance each season at Diablo Lodge, whose residents know to get to the community room early to get a good seat.
But the greatest claim to fame this season may be the European tour of 80 members, with the highlight their performance at the Vatican. They will perform liturgical music at the Mass, including “O Magnum Mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen, who is on the music faculty at University of Southern California. “We wanted to take one selection by a California composer to the Vatican,” Gilfether said.
After the Vatican, they will perform their Porter and Gershwin show at the Genzano Flower Festival in Rome, and also in Florence and Assisi, as part of the 2005 American Celebration of Music.
“When we first decided to go to Italy, we made our application to the Vatican,” Gilfether said. “They scrutinize groups pretty carefully, what the chorus has done, the repertoire.”
A few weeks ago they received word – they had been chosen. “We’re thrilled because of all that’s been going on in the Vatican,” she said. Plus it’s always a huge privilege, she added.
Because of the recent election of the new pope, they are still waiting for details. “We do know that we are going to have the use of an organ,” Gilfether said, “and we are very happy about that because Stan Fong, our assistant director, is an outstanding organist.”
Chorus members Linda Kralik and Charlotte McKnight are organizing the trip; they began making arrangements soon after the group returned from its 2003 trip to Austria and the Czech Republic.
“At the end of that trip, Diane had little vignettes of each of us,” Kralik said. “It was a two-and-a-half-hour sendoff and we were just hysterical.” She was laughing still as she told about one couple who swore that their passports had been stolen in a hotel in Vienna, only to find them in their suitcases after the hotel staff had searched for hours and the police had been called.
Kralik was one of the original 12 women who gathered in Gilfether’s living room in 1991.
“Diane is the essence of the chorus,” she said. “It’s because of her that it is what it is. She’s a very nurturing individual.”
“For instance,” she continued, “I just broke my leg, and the chorus put together the ‘Kralik Dinner Brigade’ because I had no way of cooking. And most of these people have other jobs besides making sure I was fed for the night – it is a direct result of Diane’s leadership.”
Kralik said the chorus members enjoy the performances as the culmination of all their hard work. But, she added, they also look forward to the practices. “As Diane says, no matter how bad your work day is, when you go there to sing, it lifts your hearts and spirits.”
“It’s been a real labor of love for me,” Gilfether said. “It’s a unique chorus with a true bond through music.”
The bond will undoubtedly strengthen as they regale Italian audiences with the quintessentially American songs of Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Not to mention the shared experience of raising their voices in song at the Vatican.
