Opera Singer Brings His Gift of Voice to Cardiff

Opera singer Louis Lebherz has performed at the world’s most opulent venues, from the Kennedy Center to the Vatican. 

On Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, he attained yet another milestone when he sang the National Anthem at the

“All I need is an audience regardless of the size and I put on my performance Mojo,” he said, smiling. “I love to share the gift I was given – whether at a sporting event or one of great stages of the world.”

Louis was born in 1948 at the Bethesda Naval Hospital outside Washington, D.C. where his father, Dr. Thomas B. Lebherz, served as Chief of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Service. Louis wasn’t any ordinary military brat, his dad attended to First Lady Jacquelyn Kennedy.

Although he spent much of his youth in the nation’s capital, it was after his dad was transferred to Balboa Naval Hospital in the mid-1960s when young Louis, a math major at Mesa College, found his voice. 

“I wanted to meet girls and I loved choir,” he remembers. Louis was encouraged by music department head Robert Henninger and, later, Charlene Archibeque, to pursue a career as a bass soloist. In 1966 he performed his first opera, Faust, at the San Diego Opera. It was there that he became acquainted with a replacement tenor from Mexico City named Placido Domingo. The two forged a lifelong friendship, subsequently performing together in more than 200 operas. 

With Archibeque’s encouragement, Louis left Mesa College and went on to earn a B.A. in Music at Chapman College on a full scholarship. Afterwards he became the first associate instructor in the voice department at Indiana University.

Louis’s first job was at the Memphis Opera where he met Beverly Sills. That led to other opportunities at the Los Angeles Opera (under Placido Domingo), the Metropolitan Opera (New York), the Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center, the Royal Opera House (London), Teatro Massimo (Palermo) and Le Grand Theatre (Geneva).

He also performed at scores of synagogues and Catholic, Protestant and nondenominational churches including The Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, home of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking.

After 45 years, San Diego beckoned Lebherz home. Last June he and his wife, Gaila, bought a house in Cardiff.

“I love San Diego – the architecture, the weather, the people,” he said.

Louis commutes a few times a year to the Bay Area where he serves as Artist-in-Residence at Saint Mary’s College. He’s also Director of Music Liturgy at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Rancho Penasquitos.

These days he and Gaila, a choreographer and dance/movement therapist, devote much of their time to the nonprofit Nativity Prep Academy in San Diego where Louis teaches voice, and Gaila teaches dance, to middle-school students from low-income families.

Louis also teaches voice in his home studio. The Lebherz’s easily settled into their Cardiff neighborhood, sharing a mutual love of opera with next-door neighbors, Maria Ricci and Jim Norris. A couple of months ago, one thing led to another and the Cardiff Opera Society Internazionale was born.

“Louis is a treasure and we are very fortunate to have him and Gaila as neighbors,” Norris said. “COSI is simply a vehicle to share our passion for opera and an excuse for having some wonderful food and drink with the good people of our cozy Cardiff neighborhood.” 

For information about the Cardiff Opera Society Internazioale email Louis Lebherz at louis.lebherz@gmail.com.