Belle Voci women's choir using off-time during pandemic to fuel camaraderie

The Fox Chapel-based women’s choir, Belle Voci, is using the covid-19 pandemic to fuel camaraderie and strengthen spirits.

In many ways, the group is connecting more deeply than when their time was focused strictly on rehearsing, Pamela Bruchwalski, marketing director, said.

“We may not be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, but we have been able to sing together via Zoom, and when we’re not singing, we’re talking, playing games or listening to speakers,” Bruchwalski said.

The musicians postponed the 2020 season, including the already twice-suspended 2019 “Motown” concert, through March for virus-related safety concerns.

Details on future performances will be released in coming months.

Still, the regular Wednesday night rehearsal slot has been converted into a virtual gathering space where members can see each other’s faces and hear each other’s voices.

“It’s keeping us connected through this very difficult time,” said Bruchwalski of Bethel Park.

Founded in 2012 by O’Hara resident Craig Cannon, the intergenerational choir has a mission to educate both singers and its audience, performing music from a wide range of composers. Cannon, who retired after 34 years as director of choral activities for Fox Chapel Area High School, supports his singers in using their voices for social causes, primarily those that benefit women.

In June 2019, Belle Voci was named a Susan G. Komen Foundation Promise Keeper Awardee for its service singing the national anthem at the start of the Race For The Cure for the past four years.

In 2020, Belle Voci was designated as a RAD Cultural Asset.

Through these many months when the choir hasn’t been able to publicly perform, they’ve remained as active as ever, members said.

Programming offered virtually to singers each week has included educational and social sessions that provide musical knowledge and the chance to spend time with their “sisters,” Bruchwalkski said.

Beginning last fall, members started using Zoom to connect. Online, they’ve heard from vocal health experts, hosted game night extravaganzas and scavenger hunts, practiced yoga and listened to music that amplifies themes of social justice.

“At a time when so many of us are experiencing the loss of community and feeling isolated, having these weekly virtual opportunities to come together with our fellow choir members has filled that gap,” said Suzanne Masri of Coraopolis.

A member since 2016, Masri said that alternate programming has allowed singers to have remote sessions with some of the choral world’s “most interesting and knowledgeable experts, and that wouldn’t have been possible in a normal rehearsal.”

In October, for example, soprano and alum of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Michele Kennedy, talked with the group about her love for treble repertoire, her deep dedication to mentoring young women and body work, breath, and physical storytelling as a foundation for singing and as a healing practice.

Later that month, the group heard from Paul Rardin, conductor and director of choral activities at Temple University, who spoke about the joys of learning music by ear.

In December, Belle Voci treated a virtual audience to its ninth annual holiday concert, “a Dicembre,” a 50-minute YouTube performance featuring clips of soloists and small groups that has been viewed nearly 450 times.

With the ultimate goal of returning to live audiences, both Bruchwalski and Masri said the pandemic has only strengthened the choir.

“There’s a Belle Voci book club that might just stick around even when we are able to gather in person again,” Bruchwalski said.

Masri added, “While we’d of course much rather be together singing, we can at the very least stretch and expand our vocal horizons.”