On Oscars Sunday, while many people were at home watching the red carpet ahead of the awards ceremony, the singers of Cantare Con Vivo’s (to sing with life) Cantare Chorale adult choir gathered at the hall adjacent to the First Presbyterian Church in Oakland. The 100-voice choir was rehearsing for their upcoming concert to celebrate the Chorale’s 25th anniversary. The Sunday, March 17 concert will pay homage to American composers.
David Morales has been Cantare’s conductor since the organization started in 1987 to provide church choir singers the opportunity to perform non-Christian music. In 1999, Morales started Cantare Chorale’s symphonic choir.
At the recent rehearsal, the room was filled with adult singers of various ages. One of the youngest, Dayana Merino, started with Cantare as a child and came up through the children’s program. Morales said that one of the oldest singers is in his 80s.
Once all the singers were seated, Morales led them through a vocal exercise to prepare them for an afternoon of singing.
In addition to the adult choir, Cantare also has children’s and youth programs, classroom music education for Oakland students, and a summer program. All of the youth programming is offered at no cost. The two-week, free summer camp includes food, a rental fee for musical instruments, and transportation to and from the camp.
Cantare serves 2,650 children from Oakland who are part of the choirs and the academic programming. The summer camp serves roughly 125 kids every year. Morales is proud of his accomplishments.
“Choral music has been my passion and my area of expertise. I’m in my 55th year of conducting,” Morales said. “I’m not new to the game, the community, or the world of choral music.”
Merino is the first alum from the youth choir programs to join Cantare Chorale’s adult choir. She joined Cantare as a kid in 2005 and now serves on the board of directors.
“Cantare is a safe place to be. Many of us come from communities with low socioeconomic status,” Merino said. “Cantare’s mission to provide music and equity is crucial when we are young.”
The children and youth programming is partly funded by singers who pay to join the adult choir. The tuition for the season ranges between $87.50 and $175.00.
For singers like Christy Lloyd, who has been with the Chorale since it started 25 years ago, the choir combines two important things in her life: singing and a sense of community. Lloyd said that Cantare’s mission and its community of singers reflect her own interests and goals.
Other singers are newer to the choir but equally excited to be part of the community, like Anne Margaret Manay, who joined about two years ago. Manay met Morales at First Presbyterian Church, where she is a parishioner, and Morales would fill in as music director. She also volunteers at the children’s summer camp.
“I came up in children’s choirs, and I look back on those interactions with adults who encouraged me and saw that I was talented and gave me opportunities to sing,” Manay said. “That stays with you forever.”
For Morales, seeing women like Merino, Lloyd, and Manay be part of Cantare and give these opportunities to children makes his mission as a conductor worth it.
“We have changed lives and kept up with those young people because you’re giving them opportunities that didn’t exist. There is no music like that in Oakland, no singing. That doesn’t exist in the public schools,” Morales said. “That’s where we have an avenue by providing what we do.”
While the adult choir is primarily white, Morales said that within the children’s programming, roughly 8 out of 10 are kids of color, 40% are English learners, and 14% are children with special needs, all from Oakland schools.
“We are removing the boundary of economics for children to participate,” Morales said. “That’s our mission.”
While children in the program prep to carry on the torch for the next 25 years, original singers like Lloyd want to make sure everyone in the community gets to experience what it is like to be in the audience.
“As a choral ensemble, we care about our audiences. And we want to perform for them. We want them to enjoy it, and we want to expand audiences; you’re always working to do that and make music new and innovative,” Lloyd said. “25 years is a long time to be together, still perform, and still be in the same place.”
Homeward Bound, Cantare Chorale’s 25th-anniversary concert is on Sunday, March 17, 4 p.m., $10-$35, First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway.
