August 24, 2006

Singing with spirit

Almaden vocalists grace Santa Clara Community Choir and perform at the Vatican

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Five Almaden singers recently performed where Ozzy Osbourne fears to tread.

Five Almaden singers from Saint Anthony’s choir rounded out a troupe of 48 Santa Clara University Community Choir members who embarked on a four-date European tour July 12-27.

Saint Anthony’s choir stars Jay and Lani Deimling, Jim and Denise DeLong and Ignacio Osorio rounded out a troupe of 48 Santa Clara University Community Choir members who embarked on a four-date European tour July 12-27.

Sites included some of the most historic and famous worship arenas in Europe, including Saint Peter’s Cathedral at the Vatican in Rome.

“We’re just adjuncts,” said Bret Harte teacher and Community Choir member Denise DeLong, who described the choir as a group of people who actually do other things, outside of prayer and singing. “[We] are teachers and doctors and all kinds of different things.”

The Santa Clara Community Choir is a conglomerate of local community members who may or may not have ties to the university but who happen to attend church there. “This particular group sings at the mass held on the fourth Sunday of each month,” said DeLong.

“We didn’t really have to try out,” said Lani Deimling. “The trip was open to anybody who heard about it and the singing was open to anybody who can sing. I am not a professional.”

Deimling is, however, paid from time to time. She sings at weddings and local sites with a band.

Apparently the group’s conquest was set in motion when member Lou Basile learned about Passages, a New York company that specializes in correspondence with the religious hierarchy. Passages helped arrange a tryout of sorts, and the SC Community choir was asked to hit the studio.

After several months of practice, and three weekends spent recording at a professional studio in Campbell, a demo was prepared. Basile and choir director Barbara Mount mailed it to contacts at the Vatican and received good word—that the Church enjoyed Santa Clara’s vibe and that the choir would perform at a Saint Peter’s mass, as well on dates preceding in Venice, Florence and Assisi.

Rome, however, was the highlight, according to Lani Deimling, an Almaden nurse, who moonlights as Mom. “The acoustics were breathtaking,” she said. “Just being in the churches like Saint Peter’s where Michelangelo worked was amazing.”

The Community Choir, in fact, wowed the congregation at Saint Peter’s, during the 5:30 p.m. mass, hosted by the head priest that was in charge of all the masses at Saint Peter’s, according to Deimling. “It was just thrilling!”

An unexpected lapse in musical theory revealed director Mount’s abilities there. “At the Vatican, we had an accompanist who plays music with us and she was ready to pop in and play, but the man in charge insisted that his own organist play,” recalled Deimling. Mid-song, awkward tones from the piano exposed the organist who had lost his time, while leading the choir.

“Everybody just went on because Barbara’s direction was so good,” said Deimling. “Nobody noticed. The people in our group did, but we could just do it. It was pretty amazing.”

The group’s spiritual serenade ended abruptly. While the Community Choir impressed with improvisation and delivery, performing songs in Latin, Italian and English, a Saint Peter’s official cut them short, during the choir’s final number. “We had a few more stanzas and verses that we wanted to play, but the guy cut us off,” said Deimling. “We just listened. We didn’t want to be ugly Americans or anything.”

With just four scheduled appearances, the choir also took time to soak up European history throughout the two-week tour, according to Deimling. “A highlight was also visiting lakes in northern Italy,” she said. Deimling described a growing form of tourism in the country called agriturisimo, where rural farmers invite tourists into their homes to view the lifestyle and taste the food.

Deimling said that the trip never would have been possible without the influence of the DeLong family, who first broached the subject to the Saint Anthony’s choir members. Denise is a Santa Clara alumnus, who regularly volunteers at school events. She learned of the opportunity over a year ago and presented it to members of the choir at Saint Anthony’s.

After informal tryouts, practice soon ensued.

“There were no nerves at all because we had practiced so much by the time we performed in Europe,” said Deimling. We all have sung for so long. But of course, there were new songs that I personally had to learn.”
Among those was a Gregorian chant, performed acappella.

DeLong said preparing was a very intensive process, but well worth the work. “Planning started over a year before we went,” she said. Rehearsals began once or twice a week last fall. The CD was recorded and mastered in February.

“When you see a place like this, it’s so overwhelming,” said DeLong. “You feel like you are connected to your roots. You really do feel a connection to history and to all of those people who have tried to make the world a better place, all the Popes who have led countless Christians and Catholics, who have tried to make the world a better place. The idea of things that stretch 2000 years back in time is unbelievable.”