Spotlight on the Loft - Bridget de la Peña

When Bridget de la Peña joined St. John Cantius with her husband Ramón in the spring of 2014, she was already someone who knew that making music and being formed by music are two different things, and she'd spent a lifetime pursuing both.

Growing up on a farm in western Pennsylvania, Bridget took piano lessons as a young child and began organ lessons in eighth grade. By high school, she was determined to become a band teacher, and threw herself into learning as many wind instruments as possible — piccolo, flute, horn, mellophone, baritone, and sousaphone. She went on to earn a B.A. in music from the University of Notre Dame, where her principal instrument was organ, though she also studied harpsichord and sang in the liturgical choir.

After college, music took a back seat for several years until a school principal asked her to teach World Music Drumming. "I figured if I was teaching music, I should be involved in making music too!" That decision led her to join the Cathedral Singers at Holy Name Cathedral, where she met Ramón, the man who would become her husband.

Today, Bridget's musical life is as full as ever. In addition to singing with the Resurrection Choir and the Cantate Domino Choir, she directs the Holy Innocent Choir, plays horn with the Wilmette Community Band, works as a freelance organist, teaches piano lessons, and continues to take lessons in both organ and horn — and, more recently, voice. Professionally, she serves as a leadership coach for Catholic school principals, drawing on her own years of experience as a teacher, principal, and principal manager.

Now more than twelve years into her time with the Sacred Music Program, Bridget speaks with enthusiasm about what keeps drawing her back: "the amazing music, inspiring director, great sense of community, and the deep spirituality.”

This past liturgical season, Bridget found herself growing more attuned to the stylistic demands of different historical periods. "Maestro Scapin does a great job of modeling both through singing and through gesture," she notes, "and this has helped me to sing in a style more appropriate for the piece." She's also become a quiet resource for her fellow choir members, sharing playlists and practice tracks that help others come prepared, an act of generosity that several members said made a real difference.

For Bridget, Gregorian chant holds an important meaning. She describes the women's chant in alternation with the men — as heard on both Pentecost and Corpus Christi this season — as one of this year’s most meaningful experiences. "I find that I am able to enter into the texts in a particular way when singing Gregorian chant." The Sequence for Corpus Christi, she says, was especially moving, its text "so rich." She's equally drawn to the all-treble sound of Cantate Domino, which she describes as evoking "a sense of heaven," and she finds the Mozart Requiem a powerful meditation on mortality and the ultimate purpose of human life.

At its heart, Bridget says, choir has given her a way to inhabit the liturgical year more deeply. "Singing the texts over and over makes the Scripture and liturgy a part of who we are."

One of the season's most treasured memories came when Bridget and Ramón, along with several Resurrection Choir members, traveled to Cincinnati for the clothing ceremony of former choir alto Kate Abell, who entered religious life as Sister Anastasia of the Trinity with the Carmelite Daughters of St. Elias. "During her time in choir, Kate was discerning a vocation, and it was so beautiful to see this come to fruition!" The music and liturgy, Bridget adds with characteristic appreciation, "were just exquisite."

And what does she treasure most? "The sense of community with others who are also growing in their faith." She also notes, with characteristic gratitude, how much she values the seasons when the choir steps back and simply joins the congregation — especially during Holy Week. "We are so blessed to have a parish so rich in music."