Jeremy Kreamer, Choir Director
F.David Barthelmess, Founder and Director Emeritus
David Barthelmess has worked with great enthusiasm since 1968 as a music educator and church musician. His vocal and instrumental teaching positions have included Wilson Junior High in Appleton, Wisconsin, the University of Montana, and Hellgate High School in Missoula, Montana, Armijo and Fairfield High Schools in Fairfield, Town School in San Francisco, and until retirement in 2013, 23 years at Wood High School in Vacaville where he founded the Sylvan Choir, the Sylvan Singers, and Tintinnabulists Handbell Choir.
The early 1970’s found Mr. Barthelmess serving as a U.S. Army musician in San Francisco, and Seoul, Korea, where he played French Horn and directed Army Choruses for the Eighth Army Band as Enlisted Band Leader. He founded and directed the Yongsan Chorale, an eighty-voice choir comprised of U.S military personnel and Korean civilians.
Upon retirement from Will C.Wood High School, Mr. Barthelmess immediately reengaged the parent arm of the Sylvan Choirs (a group which toured Europe in 2006 as the “Sylvan Legacy Chamber Choir”). The group currently performs under the name “The Orpheus~West Chamber Choir”. Handbells were a welcome addition with bells being purchased through donations from throughout the Greater Bay Area. The “Sylvan Legacy” continues at the civic-adult level, as a stand alone 501(c)3.
Mr. Barthelmess has worked, almost continually, in Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian churches, and remains fond of the traditional Protestant liturgy and hymnody. He now sings with a number of local choirs, and is a regular chorister in the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, directed by Dr. Donald Kendrick.
Mr. Barthelmess received his B.A in Music Education and Choral conducting at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He was selected to become choral assistant there under D. William Ballard. He received a Masters in Choral Conducting at the University of Montana. Mentors have included Dr. Lloyd Oakland, Donald Carey, Eugene Andre, J.Neil Dahlstrom, and Mary Schaefer.
Career highlights have included group performances at the Concordia University Invitational Handbell Festival (four years) in Irvine, California, Festival of Gold performance at Lincoln Center in Washington, D.C., in 2006, performances including St. Mark’s Basilica, and an invitational performance in the Salzburg, Austria, Cathedral led by Mozart scholar, Janos Czifra.
Honors and distinctions include Male Chorus performance at the Northwest Convention of the American Choral Directors Association, numerous Superior ratings at Montana and California Music Educators’ Festivals, Will C. Wood Teacher of the Year 2011, Saturday Club of Vacaville, Arts and Education Leadership Award, 2004, and the Vaca Arts Council signet honor, The Marianna Pokorny Award.
The early 1970’s found Mr. Barthelmess serving as a U.S. Army musician in San Francisco, and Seoul, Korea, where he played French Horn and directed Army Choruses for the Eighth Army Band as Enlisted Band Leader. He founded and directed the Yongsan Chorale, an eighty-voice choir comprised of U.S military personnel and Korean civilians.
Upon retirement from Will C.Wood High School, Mr. Barthelmess immediately reengaged the parent arm of the Sylvan Choirs (a group which toured Europe in 2006 as the “Sylvan Legacy Chamber Choir”). The group currently performs under the name “The Orpheus~West Chamber Choir”. Handbells were a welcome addition with bells being purchased through donations from throughout the Greater Bay Area. The “Sylvan Legacy” continues at the civic-adult level, as a stand alone 501(c)3.
Mr. Barthelmess has worked, almost continually, in Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian churches, and remains fond of the traditional Protestant liturgy and hymnody. He now sings with a number of local choirs, and is a regular chorister in the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, directed by Dr. Donald Kendrick.
Mr. Barthelmess received his B.A in Music Education and Choral conducting at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He was selected to become choral assistant there under D. William Ballard. He received a Masters in Choral Conducting at the University of Montana. Mentors have included Dr. Lloyd Oakland, Donald Carey, Eugene Andre, J.Neil Dahlstrom, and Mary Schaefer.
Career highlights have included group performances at the Concordia University Invitational Handbell Festival (four years) in Irvine, California, Festival of Gold performance at Lincoln Center in Washington, D.C., in 2006, performances including St. Mark’s Basilica, and an invitational performance in the Salzburg, Austria, Cathedral led by Mozart scholar, Janos Czifra.
Honors and distinctions include Male Chorus performance at the Northwest Convention of the American Choral Directors Association, numerous Superior ratings at Montana and California Music Educators’ Festivals, Will C. Wood Teacher of the Year 2011, Saturday Club of Vacaville, Arts and Education Leadership Award, 2004, and the Vaca Arts Council signet honor, The Marianna Pokorny Award.
Mission: Why We’re Here? We Sing!
Orpheus~West Chamber Choir celebrates the choral tradition by gathering like-minded singers to rehearse and perform a variety of music, ranging from classical choral works to Renaissance through contemporary masterpieces, along with folk arrangements, spirituals and Broadway favorites. Recent programs have included such masterworks as Pergolesi’s MAGNIFICAT, both Gabriel Faure’s and John Rutter’s REQUIEMS, J.S. Bach’s Cantata 140, “Sleepers. Awake,” and Anton Diabelli’s Pastoral Mass in F. Often such masterworks are presented with the original full orchestration. Our concerts are usually “theme-based,” e.g., one year “Christmas in the Alps,” another “A Festival of French Music,” and more.
A Solano area Community Choir rehearsing and performing in the Vacaville area, our musical family draws singers from San Francisco to Sacramento, including friends from Napa, Vallejo, Benicia, Fairfield, Dixon and Davis. We enjoy vigorous musical rehearsal, but blend in humor and planned social moments to make our time a pleasant change from our mid-week workdays and busy schedules. Our singers range from young adults to active seniors, and from avocational “enjoyment singers” to serious trained performers. But the sense of sharing and community is strong among all! Previous choral experience and music reading are definite “pluses.” The choir rehearses once a week for two-plus hours, late August till mid-May.
A Solano area Community Choir rehearsing and performing in the Vacaville area, our musical family draws singers from San Francisco to Sacramento, including friends from Napa, Vallejo, Benicia, Fairfield, Dixon and Davis. We enjoy vigorous musical rehearsal, but blend in humor and planned social moments to make our time a pleasant change from our mid-week workdays and busy schedules. Our singers range from young adults to active seniors, and from avocational “enjoyment singers” to serious trained performers. But the sense of sharing and community is strong among all! Previous choral experience and music reading are definite “pluses.” The choir rehearses once a week for two-plus hours, late August till mid-May.