Uniting people through a shared love of singing

In Medford Community Chorale, everyone has something to contribute

by Ryan Fiore / Correspondent

At the inauguration of Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Betsy Pesce looked to her left, then to her right. Surrounding her inside the Chevalier Theatre were more than 60 singers, all set to perform as the newly formed Medford Community Chorale (MCC).

Pesce, who is the founder and director of MCC, had only begun looking for people to join after the chorale's initial formation a mere month earlier, and she wasn’t sure how many people would answer the call when asked to perform at Lungo-Koehn’s inauguration. At the time, Pesce had no idea that her expectations would soon be turned on their head when dozens of performers from all age groups — a hodgepodge of singers, from young adults to seniors, all united through a shared love of singing — came together for the chorale’s first live performance.

As the chorale sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” Pesce made eye contact with several members of the group. She felt a lump in her throat.

“It was so gratifying to be able to do this,” Pesce said. “ It was just a joy, you know, it really was.”

Established in December of 2019, the Medford Community Chorale is the city’s first official community chorus since the 1980s. It is an all-volunteer, no-audition-required chorus that is completely free to join.

“We want to make this accessible to everyone,” said Pesce. “The only requirement is a love of singing, and so everybody has something to contribute.”

It is this openness and accessibility that has turned it into what Pesce described as “something of a tradition” in Medford. At their “Happy Holidays” concert last December, Pesce recalled seeing the stands of Medford High School’s Caron Theater so full that people were sitting on the steps to watch the performance.

Their spring concert this past May attracted roughly 315 people eager to see the chorus perform and raised $1,000 for the Medford Youth Center.

“People know about us,” Pesce said. “They know about our concerts, and they look forward to them.”

The MCC keeps admission to its concerts free of charge to ensure that everyone who would like to attend can, and it works with the Medford Senior Center to provide transportation for seniors, though the chorale’s accessibility extends far beyond merely its attendees.

The MCC has two branches, the Medford Community Chorale and the Youth/Young Adult Chorus. Across both choruses, membership spans generations, from young children first getting into choir to seniors looking to stay active in their community.

“We have a wide range of ages,” Pesce said. “From young to our matriarch, who is 90 years old, and she still has a beautiful soprano voice.”

The chorus has evolved into something of a family affair, as well.

“We have some moms who sing with their children in the youth chorus,” said Pesce. “We have one family that has a grandmother, her two daughters, and two of her grandchildren.”

Pesce has been involved with music all her life. In 1976, she took up a job as a music educator at Maplewood Elementary School in Malden, where she taught music and directed choruses for grades K-6 for eight years. In 2000, she became involved with St. Joseph Parish, where she served as the director of music.

At St. Joseph’s, Pesce directed the parish’s adult, young adult, and youth choirs. Unfortunately, her time at St. Joseph’s came to an end in late 2019 amid budget cuts. Still wanting to stay involved with directing music, Pesce got right to work and teamed up with her longtime colleague Dr. Holly Zagaria, who worked with Pesce for 11 years at St. Joseph’s prior to the creation of the MCC.

Her first big opportunity came almost immediately, when she was asked to assemble a chorus to perform at Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn’s inaugural ceremony.

“It was miraculous to be able to do all this again after the disappointment of my tenure at St. Joseph's ending,” said Pesce. “One of the members said, ‘This is an example of making lemonade out of lemons,’ and I was so grateful to all the wonderful, wonderful folks who showed up.”

And, the rest is history. Now, the MCC has more than 120 singers across its adult and youth/young adult groups.

If the chorus has been successful at anything, it’s igniting an unbreakable sense of community among members.

“I started with people from St. Joseph’s, and now it’s people from the wider community and area communities who joined,” said Pesce. “There’s a lot of camaraderie from folks who didn’t know each other.”

And, the MCC has proven Pesce’s philosophy to be true, that everybody has something to contribute.

“Within the chorus, we have folks with solo ability to folks with very limited experience,” Pesce said. “But they learn from the others, and if there’s something someone doesn’t understand, then another member will try to teach them.”

Rehearsals for the MCC 2026 holiday concert, entitled “The Very Best Time of Year,” will begin on September 9. The concert is scheduled for Friday, December 4, at 7 p.m., and will benefit The Walnut Street Center.

There will be a fundraiser for the MCC at The Establishment, 175 Rivers Edge Drive, on Tuesday, September 15. From 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., the restaurant will donate to MCC 20% of the proceeds from food and beverage sales.