Patrick Burzlaff, Centennial High School’s choir director, describes the program as a family for those who are in it or have been a part of it.
He recently assembled an alumni choir to celebrate Centennial’s 30th anniversary and his 10 years at the school. It’s been a family reunion.
There are several meaningful connections among the 80-person alumni choir that have made for enjoyable rehearsals for Tuesday night’s performance at 7 in the performing arts center ($5 at the door).
“We go through all the good, the bad and the ugly,” Burzlaff said on Thursday night during the alumni choir’s fourth and final rehearsal. “I expect a certain level of excellence from them and it takes a lot of motivation and hard work to be sure I get them in the right state of mind to do that. But they always deliver. We have a good product. They’re proud of it. They’re excited to share it. They feel good about it. At the same time it’s good for our family.”
For two hours each Thursday night for the past four weeks, the Centennial alumni choir/family has been practicing nine songs that they selected from their high school memories. Burzlaff asked them which songs they wanted to perform. He also showed them performances from 25 years ago. He had to bring out a VHS player and an old TV for that.
“I feel like I need to transfer them to computer files,” he said. “There’s a lot of gold there.”
Greg Lapp, Centennial’s first choir director who is now retired, joined the rehearsal and conducted a few songs Thursday night. The alumni choir will sing three of his songs, so he will also conduct on Tuesday night.
His song, “Carry Me,” was often performed in the late '90s and the alumni choir wanted that one in Tuesday night’s performance.
Lapp also wrote Centennial’s alma mater, which will be performed. His choirs made a habit of closing concerts with his song, “Blessing,” another number the alumni choir chose.
Lapp, who also taught at Bakersfield, East and Foothill, worked at Centennial for the school’s first 12 years. He then moved to Fresno to teach at University High for 15 years.
“It was really fun,” Lapp said of opening Centennial. “I didn’t dislike Foothill by any means but the opportunity came up. …. I thought: This seems like a really cool idea to start something from scratch. That was my inspiration for going out there.”
Amanda Isaac, class of 1998, is among Lapp’s former students in the alumni choir. Isaac is now the choir director at Bakersfield. She was the choir director at Norris Middle School, a feeder for Centennial, so there are several of her former Norris students in the Centennial alumni choir.
“It’s been a treat for me to be in the choir,” Isaac said. “We’re singing wonderful music. I get to be led by and inspired by Patrick Burzlaff and I also get to see a lot of former students. I’ve seen them grow and do awesome things.”
Sarah Gallego, who graduated from Centennial in 2018, said the core values of unity and performing at a high level remain in the school’s program.
Gallego learned from Isaac at Norris and then Burzlaff at Centennial. She now attends Bakersfield College, where she is majoring in English and performs with the BC Chamber Singers.
“The best part is seeing all the familiar faces,” Gallego said of the rehearsals. “... Singing next to (Isaac) is almost like being starstruck because I’m singing next to my middle school director while my high school director is conducting in front of me. It’s pretty great. It’s all about the music and having fun.”
Centennial’s annual year-end pops concert was among Gallego’s favorite memories because the singers dressed in costumes and performed choreographed numbers.
“It was our taste of Broadway,” she said.
Gallego, who sings alto, also enjoyed the choir trips, including Centennial’s performance in San Francisco.
“Choir got me through high school,” she said. “... Patrick Burzlaff has built a great program at Centennial and I’m grateful to call myself one of his students and to be a part of the alumni of Centennial High School.”
