About the Chorale

The Diablo Women's Chorale, founded in 1942, is a diverse group of women singers from all areas of Contra Costa County in California. Membership, which has ranged from 14 to 40 through the years, is currently at 31; new members are welcomed in September and January each year. Rehearsals are from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays in Walnut Creek.

Biannual concerts are presented in December and May. The Chorale also performs at community and private events in the area. Please contact us if you would like information about performing at your event. Recent repertoire has included the music of Palestrina, Mozart, Schumann, Debussy, Gershwin, Kirby Shaw and Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as a selection of seasonal tunes and folk songs.

Meet Our Director

Mary Sorenson

Mary Sorenson studied voice, piano, music history and music theory at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. She studied piano at the Wisconsin College Conservatory of Music and vocal and keyboard jazz with Nancy Fraser in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from which she hails. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1979, and earned a multiple subject teaching credential in California in 1988, teaching vocal music.

For the past 22 years Mary has taught music in the East Bay in the Mt. Diablo School District and at her private studio. She founded the Pleasant Hill Elementary School Chorus as well as the Pleasant Hill Middle School Chorus, and has been a proud member of Diablo Women's Chorale since 1999, leading the alto section since 2001. After an exhilarating first season last spring including the Vocal Jazz Workshop with Dr. Kirby Shaw in April and a well received concert on May 22nd, Mary is excited to begin her second season directing the Chorale.

Meet Our Officers

Barbara Burkhardt Emma Dzelzkalns Suzanne Salter Diane Miller Dee Hoffer
Barbara Burkhardt
President		 Emma
Dzelzkalns
Vice-President		 Suzanne
Salter
Treasurer		 Diane
Miller
Secretary		 Dee Hoffer
Member-
at-Large

Meet the Chorale

Diablo Women's Chorale

Meet Our Accompanist

Stephen Evans

Stephen Evans holds music degrees from the University of Texas, Austin, in Cello Performance and the University of London, Goldsmiths College in Orchestral Performance.  He has performed in orchestras in Texas, Europe, and the Bay Area, and has also performed piano recitals in Texas and San Francisco. 

He has taught piano and cello at Civic Arts Education In Walnut Creek since 1999 and he currently performs with a wide variety of ensembles in the Bay Area.