About 50 former pupils returned to Campolindo High School in Moraga, California, on Sunday for a reunion concert led by their retired choir director, 87-year-old Lindley Hall.
The two-hour performance brought together alumni now in their 40s, 50s and 60s, with singers travelling from across the United States, including Arizona, Virginia and Connecticut.
For Hall, who directed the school’s choir from 1976 until his retirement in 1999, the concert was both a celebration of music and a reunion with former students who had remained an important part of his life.
Campolindo alumni choir rehearsed for months
The Campolindo High School Alumni Choir began preparing in March, with many members meeting in their former choir room once a month. Rehearsals initially lasted three hours before extending to four and, on at least one occasion, five hours.
Those unable to attend practised remotely using recordings and musical parts uploaded online, allowing former students living far from California to take part.
Chelsea Glavinovich McClure, a member of the class of 1995 and one of the choir’s co-chairs, said the commitment had proved more rewarding than many participants expected.
“You sign-up to participate in the choir thinking it will be fun but also maybe a little concerned of the time required,” she said. “Then attend a rehearsal or two and the experience moves you more than expected, so then you want more.”
The programme featured almost 20 numbers, opening with a medley from The Phantom of the Opera before moving through songs from well-known musicals, classical choral works and pieces first performed by some of the singers when they were teenagers.
Musical theatre numbers were accompanied by choreography and dance steps, with several scenes adapted to include jokes about the reunion. Some soloists reprised performances they had first given decades earlier.
A teacher who shaped the school’s musical life
Hall arrived in Moraga from Ohio after 15 years teaching choir there. His first year at Campolindo was difficult, as pupils had been fond of his popular predecessor and were quick to notice Hall’s Midwestern habit of calling a fizzy drink “pop”.
He soon established a rapport with the students, however, and went on to lead almost two dozen productions, including annual musicals and chamber shows. He is widely credited with building one of the East Bay’s most respected high-school musical theatre programmes.
Although he retired more than 25 years ago, Hall kept in touch with many former pupils. He said the relationships became particularly important after his wife died five years ago, leaving him without close family nearby.
Recalling advice from his doctor, Hall said he had been told he could either remain in his chair and wait to die or “get up and do something”. The reunion choir, he said, had given him a renewed sense of purpose.
“I think I’m alive, and I continue to grow because I’ve had so many people in my life from this group,” he said.
The idea for the latest concert came from former students Glavinovich McClure and Matt White, who began organising it after meeting Hall for lunch. Hall initially assumed the plan would come to nothing, but his former pupils soon began arranging rehearsals and building the alumni choir.
Glavinovich McClure said working with her former teacher had been “an honour”, describing him as a thoughtful and selfless person who had a gift for making people feel valued.
Kerry Baker, from the class of 1992, said seeing Hall moved by the performance would have been enough in itself, but that reconnecting with former classmates had made the experience especially memorable.
Audience joins final song
The concert ended with The Battle Hymn of the Republic, when Hall invited members of the audience to sing along. People stood and joined the choir as the performance reached its conclusion.
Earlier, Hall had praised the singers for the time they had given to the project despite caring for children and older relatives.
“What each has given to this effort is unbelievable,” he told the audience, adding that he was proud of what they had achieved together.
He also read words from For Good, from the musical Wicked, explaining that the song reflected what the choir and his former pupils meant to him.
“I do believe I have been changed for the better because I knew you,” he said.
Sunday’s concert was the second major performance by the alumni choir, following an earlier gathering two years ago. Asked whether he would consider leading another reunion, Hall joked that promising one in another two years might keep him going for a little longer.
