Contra Costa Chorale, with a new director in place, blooms again in its 59th year

For more than half a century, Carole Strauss has watched Contra Costa Chorale weather booms and busts, leadership changes and the pandemic. Through all the transformations, the sheer pleasure of raising her voice with others has kept her coming back to the choir.  

“I love the sound of everyone singing together in harmony,” said the longtime Richmond resident. “It’s so beautiful and adds so much to my life.”

The same could be said of the CCC itself when it comes to Richmond’ cultural scene. Born as the Richmond Symphony Chorus in 1966, it was part of a wave of civic engagement powered by the World War II boom that turned the city into a solid middle-class haven. Re-christened as the Contra Costa Chorale in 1982 when it became an independent choir, the ensemble thrived until forced into a tenuous online existence in 2020.

But the chorale has bounced back from the disruptions wrought by COVID. With a membership hovering between 80 and 90 voices, “the choir is growing,” said Brad Schultz, who was appointed director last year following the 2024 cancer-related death of Cindy Beitmen, the choir’s beloved music director.

“We’re always looking for new singers,” Schultz said. “A good time to join is in preparation for concerts in the fall. We hold very informal auditions. We call them hearings, to make sure you’re placed in the right section. It’s a very low-barrier, welcoming group.”

Under Schultz’s direction, the CCC also welcomes a wider array of music than ever. The ensemble presents its spring program, “Living, Laughing, Loving,” Fri., May 9 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley in Kensington, and Sun., May 11 at the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church. The group typically holds four concerts a year, two in the fall and two in the spring. 

Drawing on texts by Helen Keller, John Muir, Wendell Berry, and Rabindranath Tagore, the program covers a five-century span of compositions by the likes of Aaron Copland, Eric Whitacre, Gwyneth Walker, Andrea Ramsey, Joan Szymko, and others. The centerpiece of the program is “Sacred Place,” a 2023 work by award-winning Chicago composer Alex Berko that celebrates the natural world as an entity providing safety, comfort and solace.

The program reflects Schultz’s far-flung musical interests while building on the CCC’s already eclectic vision.

 “They’ve never really pigeonholed themselves into one style, and the spring concerts celebrate that, with a much wider diversity of voices and perspectives and techniques,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to lean in on going forward.”

Richmond musicians at heart of Contra Costa Chorale’s leadership base

Amidst the changes, there’s a good deal of continuity. The core of the CCC’s leadership is based in Richmond, such as alto Cyndi Mulligan, a chorale member since 2004 who serves on the board of directors, and tenor Nan Ayers, who’s also a board member. Soprano Deena Love, board vice president, alto and board member Regina Marchione and her husband, bass Spero Matthews, are all Richmond residents.

“Brad is great, super talented with fresh ideas, and he’s taking the Chorale in a really good direction,” said Kate Sibley, the CCC’s general manager, and Beitmen’s widow. A resident of Richmond’s Richmore Village/Metro Square neighborhood for more than two decades, Sibley was part of the interview committee that hired him.

“We’re excited about what he’s doing,” she said. “I think it’s great for the group, which I love so much. It’s my family and has been so important during the really hard year since Cindy died.”

Beitmen had an impressive track record before joining the CCC. She’d revitalized the Mills College Choir and founded the highly regarded WAVE (Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble) which focuses on medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, particularly pieces written by or for women. When the director position opened up at the CCC she landed the gig in 2012, and Sibley came along for the ride.

“I’m simply a choral singer, so I joined the chorus,” she said. “But after a year I became general manager. Cindy wanted someone she could rely on and I’ve been doing that job since 2013 while continuing to sing alto. I call altos the Velcro of the chorus. We don’t do very exciting stuff most of the time, but we’re there supporting everyone else so the chorus sticks together.”

While the chorale is sustained by the deep ties between the members, recent growth has led to more deliberate efforts at fostering community. Sectional rehearsals often happen in singers’ houses, offering opportunities for more casual socializing. Schultz has also incorporated ice-breakers to introduce members to each other.  

“When it was smaller you got to know almost everybody,” said Strauss, who sang in the ensemble for several years in the late 1960s when it was under founding director Joseph Liebling and rejoined a few decades later.

“Now that it’s quite large Brad has everyone fill out a card introducing themselves, including what song would you like to sing, with whom and why,” she said. “He pulls a few cards at every rehearsal. One woman, a soprano, talked about her interest in stained glass, which my husband did. I invited her over and we had a lovely time together. So I made another new friend in the chorale.”

Schultz brings a rich array of experience to the CCC. A native of Minnesota with a doctorate in musicology from the University of Oregon, he lives in Tiburon with his husband, a digital advertising consultant. An educator with a musical background that includes vocal and instrumental performance and conducting and church and community music making, he’s also the minister of music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere, where he directs the sanctuary choir, plays organ and curates a concert series.

From his first encounter with the CCC he was drawn by the sense of joy emanating from the singers.

“In the East Bay there is no shortage of choirs and fine singing groups, but the chorale felt like a family from the very beginning,” he said. “In our concerts we transmit the same emotion to our audiences.”