Serious about play; serious about singing. A day in the life of the Pacific Boychoir Academy.

The Grammy Award-winning Pacific Boychoir was formed in 1998 with six boys. Since then, the Oakland nonprofit organization has grown to include 100 boys ages 7 to 17 in five different choirs. They've performed throughout the United States, and the top group, the Troubadors, has performed around the world.

Like a pied piper, founder and Troubador conductor Kevin Fox visits Oakland schools and invites boys to audition. It's been more than two years, but Jacob Wilson remembers it well.

"He said if you join you'll be able to sing at baseball and basketball games," Jacob, 12, recalled. "I got excited. I hadn't been to a live basketball game before."

Fox didn't fib. Jacob, who made the baseball All-Star Little League team while away on tour last summer, is starting his third season in the choir, and he's already performed the national anthem for the Warriors, the A's, the Giants and the Raiders — some more than once.

Jacob sings soprano with the Troubadors, the top choir in the Boychoir hierarchy, and the place where conductor Fox has an uncanny knack for hearing the slightest mistake or miscue, sharp or flat.

Fox is a perfectionist, making the boys sing the same passages over and over until the rhythm, the key, the tone, the finish is just right. But the boys are perfectionists, too, raising their hands when they know they've made a mistake so he doesn't have to stop them to tell them so.

Still, boys will be boys, and a movie poster of "X-Men 2" hangs on the wall of the same rehearsal room that displays a plaque lauding the choir's contribution to last year's Grammy-winning recording of Mahler: Symphony No. 3, Kindertotenlieder and posters from their tour this summer to the Czech Republic.

Adam Kutny, 12, a soloist with the internationally renowned Polish Nightingales in his native Poland, has recently joined the Troubadors and is attending choir school at First Presbyterian Church on 27th Street. He came to the United States on a one-year artistic visa. He was initially wooed by the prestigious American Boychoir, which is based in Princeton, N.J., but when visa problems arose, Fox was able to nab him.

"He has toured in so many countries he can't remember them all," said Gareth Hendrixson, the choir's spokesman.

The newest and youngest members start in Minstrels, where they learn the rules and the notes on the scale. Intermezzi is the next step, where they hone their skills and learn to read music. Cantori is next.

The group tours and performs throughout the United States, but the boys are young and still somewhat shy, some singing with their hands stuffed deep in pants pockets.

In this group, conductor Andrew Brown is more laid back than Fox, eliciting giggles and mugging by telling the boys to look the audience in the eye, and "milk it," knowing there are certainly potential donors out there.

David Brega, 16, a junior at Skyline High School, is one of the choir's earliest members. Brega stands heads above the other singers, and his voice has grown deeper over the years. But there is still an important role for him in the Changed Voices choir.

He expects to stay one more season, then it's on to other things.

"I joined when I was 9 or 10," he said. "My parents were both in adult choirs, and they enjoyed it, so I thought maybe I would like it, too. I liked it right away, I've been pretty happy with it ... My life would be boring without it."

The Pacific Boychoir performs "Harmonies of the Season" on Saturday at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 2619 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets can be purchased by calling 452-4722 or by visiting www.pacificboychoiracademy.org.

In other news, grant applications are available from the city of Oakland Cultural Arts Department in three categories — arts education, organizational and individual artist — for fiscal 2005-06. Applications and information packets are available at any Oakland public library branch; at Cultural Arts, Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, ninth floor; or online at www.oaklandculturalarts.org. Applications are due by Jan. 21.

Oakland Tribune: General Contact Information
401 13th Street
Oakland, California 94612
(510) 208-6330 Switchboard
(510) 293-2709 Online Content
www.oaklandtribune.com