About the Schola
Welcome to the website of The Schola Cantorum of the Pacific, founded in 1976 to foster the educational and liturgical Music traditions of the Catholic Church in modern times. This site provides information on our activities. The Scholas presents concerts tracing the history of Liturgical Music from earliest times to the present. A special ministry of the Schola is to assist with the Music Education of children in needier circumstances. The adult Schola is a liturgical and concert cantorale whose home church is Assumption Parish in the Boyle Heights district of Los Angeles, California. The choir school programme of the Schola is the liturgical, vocal and instrumental Music Education for the student body, and the Escolanía Pacífica chidren’s concert choir, of Immaculate Conception Parish School, Downtown Los Angeles.
The Schola was founded by Fr. Ted Ley, SM, D.Mus. of the Society of Mary, the Marianists, and musical associates with the goal of acquainting Catholics today with the many dimensions of what the Second Vatican Council called the Catholic Church’s “treasure of inestimable worth” — its Liturgical and Sacred Music. The Schola sings, “from Gregorian to Gospel.” Its members reflect the diversity of the Catholic populace of Southern California. United in their cultivation of Liturgical Music, they form a Christian community in themselves. Fr. Ley is Chairman of the Schola Foundation; the Choirmaster and Music Director is distingished alumnus, Vicente Bastidas-Elizondo.
The name, The Schola Cantorum of the Pacific, is an American registered trademark.
The Schola in Our 49th Year
The Schola has entered its 49th year with a flourishing adult cantorale, and the successful founding or our long-hoped-for Choir School programme, which is the Music curriculum of Immaculate Conception Parochial School in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Included in our curriculum is the children’s concert choir of the School and Schola, the Escolanía Pacífica. [The Schola Cantorum of the Pacific is a registered trade name, and Escolanía Pacífica a certified service mark.]
Our adult cantorale came successfully out of the pandemic by the resumption of our biennial tours with a concert entitled, “From Gregorian to Gospel, the Art of the Schola Cantorum of the Pacific,” at historic St. Mary’s Church, Nashville, Tennessee. Meanwhile, the Schola continues as the English Liturgical Choir of Assumption Parish, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles; and the Schola often concertizes along with the Escolanía children of Immaculate Conception School. The most recent combined concert, reported in this website, was the programme, “Villancicos y Cantos Navideños,” presented in the Queen of Angels parish church at the historic downtown Plaza of Los Angeles, La Placita.
Under the able tutelage of our choirmaster, Vicente Bastidas, the Escolanía children have excellent treble tone and are advancing in music sight-reading. Our programme is unusual in that it begins at the kindergarten level. As a result the children’s ear training, vocal tone and music reading ability advance more rapidly and deeply. The children's repertoire includes such Sacted concert music as J.S. Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Decosiring;" the Spanish Ave Maria of the California Missions by Padre Narciso Durán; the César Franck "Panis Angelicus;" the Dona Nobis canon smes attributed to W.A. Mozart; patriotic music including the California's State Song; the popular classic, "Solamente una Vez (You Belong to My Heart)," a wide variety of hymnody, and classic popular songs in English and Spanish. Schola members provide lessons in Violin, Mandolin, Classical Guitar, contemporary Rhythm Guitar, Folk Harp, Guitarron and various winds and percussion instruments as needed.
Our student program is named after the world's oldest choir school, the Escolanía of Monserrat, Spain. Our children also tour with their families, presenting such programs as, "Music of the Children of Early California," and "The Art of the Chid Chorister." Our pedagogy is based on tried and proven techniques of child vocal and musical training, including exercises from Medieval and Renaissance eras of Music Education, through the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Century epochs. Our Educational Philosophy is that this seamless sense of Music as a Wisdom uniting Faith and Culture in the choral art will motivate toward a variety of edifying and gratifying life's vocations in the choir children, just as it unites our Schola adults as a musical family.
We are profoundly grateful to our benefactors who have enabled us to advance so promisingly. It is clear that our up-and-coming Golden Anniversary will see the Schola as making a valuable contribution to the standards of Liturgical and Parochial Music Education in the United States and even possibly worldwide. May our goal, the best possible Music Education for inner city parochial school chidren, be emulated and expanded by others, while our adult Schola continues in the Marianist Family Spirit, a Christian Community fostering the Church’s “treasure of inestimable worth,” historic and contemporary Music of the Ages of Faith.
The motto of the Schola is, “Celebrent Te Populi Deus,” from Psalm 67, which we translate as, “May the Peoples praise you, O Lord, may all the Peoples praise you.” The Schola sings a wide variety of music - "From Gregorian to Gospel." This we now hope to teach to the next generation, through the Escolanía Pacífica, in a needy Los Angeles district where world class Music Education in an already excellent parochial school is relevant and appreciated.
May the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit be glorified in all –places through the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
Fr. Ted Ley, SM, ChM, DMus (Marianist) Founder-Director
Example of a Schola Concert
This concert was presented at Old Mission San Fernando Rey, Mission Hills, California, Sunday, April 29th, 2007. The Concert traced the history of Christian Church Music for small ensemble.