The Cupertino Courier

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Pirate John Palmer scans the horizon as Pirate King Edgar Huffstutler hovers nearby during the Valley Chorale's performance of 'The Pirates of Penzance.'

Noteworthy

The Valley Chorale will sing just about anything--from 'Bach to rock'

By Pam Marino

Edgar Huffstutler's deep bass voice fills the auditorium, and as he hams it up with his pirate hat and rubber sword, he is indisputably the Pirate King from The Pirates of Penzance.

In real life, Huffstutler is a minister. But for now he swaggers and growls with the best of pirates.

Huffstutler is rehearsing a scene from the popular operetta along with his fellow performers from the Valley Chorale.

On Friday the chorus celebrates its 30th anniversary in a free performance at 7:30 p.m. at the Quinlan Community Center, 10185 N. Stelling Road, Cupertino. The group will perform scenes from Pirates, as well as sing a variety of songs, from country & western to sacred music.

"We're sing-a-holics; we're hams," said co-director Cathy Beaupre of the chorale.

What started as a small, impromptu singing group to entertain patients at Agnews hospital 30 years ago has grown into an ambitious 40-member volunteer performing troupe. The chorus gives 24 performances a year around the valley; two weekends a year they travel throughout Northern and Central California performing.

Sunnyvale residents Marian Gay and Beaupre, a mother-and-daughter team, direct the choir, as well as oversee what is now a nonprofit educational organization. They even make the costumes.

Beaupre was still a child when she joined her mother, a church choir director at the time, on the jaunt to Agnews. Gay said the group at that time included other parent-and-child duos.

Gay and Beaupre now have an interior design business together. In their spare time they share the choir-direction duties so that both can sing. Another daughter of Gay's, Kimberly Gay, also sings with the chorale.

Many of the choir's members, who live in Sunnyvale, Cupertino and other Bay Area cities, have been with the group as long as 10 or 15 years.

They come from all walks of life--engineers, nurses, warehouse workers, teachers. A former mayor of Mountain View belonged at one time, as did a nun.

There is no upper or lower age limit, Gay said. She has accepted children as young as 11. Performers must audition, and it's preferable that they have some experience, she said. Gay and Beaupre keep the group to half men and half women.

Every Monday night, except holidays, the group meets at a Sunnyvale church to practice in an old sanctuary. They perform two seasons, from mid-September to December and from mid-March to the first week in June. The songs change every season.

"It becomes a way of life," Gay said of the chorale.

The chorale is currently auditioning potential new members for the fall season.

The chorale conducts its first four performances every season at hospitals and other locations free of charge, as a community service. The group charges a fee for its remaining eight performances to cover costs. The members pay for their own costumes and donate all their time.

They play anywhere there is a ready-made audience, Gay said, such as churches, retirement homes, fraternal organizations and community groups.

The chorale sings everything from "Bach to rock" and always performs scenes from musicals. For the musicals, the group's evening gowns and tuxedos are instantly transformed into costumes, using some clever pieces created by Gay and Beaupre. In Pirates, for example, some of the men's tuxedos are instantly turned into police or military uniforms with just a simple yolk that goes over the head.

For Tom McMurtry, who has sung with the group for 20 years, the music is the No. 1 reason he has stayed so long.

"So many choirs get into one style, and that's all they do," said the retired Varian engineer, who likes the challenge of a variety of music.

The group actually started singing mostly church music, which reflected Gay's experience as a church choir director.

"We just found we wanted to sing more kinds of music," Beaupre said. The people they performed for were not always in church, so choir members decided to add something for everybody. In the process, they created a more challenging repertoire.

Gay also spent time in the Air Force, where she was involved in a military choir. Her love of choral music started when she was a child, after watching a choir perform.

"It's always kind of snapped my shorts," Gay said.

Beaupre went to college specifically to study music.

The two said the choir provides an outlet for people who love to sing and have experience, but who do not go into music professionally. Many members performed in high school and college. The chorale fills the need they have to continue singing.

Despite busy Silicon Valley schedules, members donate hundreds of hours a year to rehearsals, preparations and performances. Members said the singing provides a kind of healing, or therapy.

"Some people play golf; I sing," Gay said.

"It's our sport, if you will," Beaupre agreed.

Anyone watching the group rehearse or perform can see that the men and women thoroughly enjoy what they're doing, throwing their voices and bodies into the performance.

"Boy, you guys look like you're having fun up there" is one of the comments the group most often hears, Beaupre said.

McMurtry echoed what other members said, that the group provides friendship and camaraderie.

"We're like a big family," he said. They get together New Year's Eve and other times of the year just to have fun.

Sharon Bader of Sunnyvale, a teacher and entrepreneur, has been with the group for four years.

"They're a terrific mix of people," she said. "It's really been a neat part of my life."

The group doesn't just sing but also features dancers, such as Erik Hoyer and Cupertino resident Barbara Beebe, who will do a tango this Friday night. A few members will be featured on instruments during some songs.

"Everybody brings their own skills, and we all do our own things," said Randy Kline, a sales engineer for a laser company.

Praising Gay and Beaupre, Kline said they work hard to "bring the best out of all of us."

He said he hesitated about joining the group at first because he thought it was too good, too professional, for his talents. He finally auditioned and, despite his feelings of inadequacy, was accepted. The experience has exceeded all his expectations, he said.

"Boy, when it clicks, it is beautiful," he said of the group.

For Gay, the sound of the entire group singing together is the most beautiful sound in the world.

"You put human voices together, there's nothing like that sound," she said.

For more information about the Chorale, call 732-2588.

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