Cantors to Sing for Pope at Wednesday Masses in D.C. Visit

From Capital News Service

Two Annapolis area singers who serve as cantors at their churches have been selected to perform in Masses Pope Francis will celebrate during his Washington, D.C., visit this week.

Here’s a look at what led up to their invitation to perform on a world-wide stage.

Bel Air Cantor Sings to Glorify God

Christina Massimei was at work behind the reception desk at Bartlinski Chiropractic & Wellness in Pasadena on July 23 when she opened an email inviting her to audition to serve as one of the cantors for Pope Francis’ visit to America.

She instantly had a panic attack — the good kind, she said — causing her boss to rush over and ask what was wrong. Feebly pointing at the screen, her boss read the email then told her to write back immediately to accept the audition.

Massimei, 26, of Bel Air, is slated to serve as one of the three cantors helping to celebrate with Pope Francis the Junipero Serra Canonization Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on Wednesday.

Massimei has sung as long as she can remember, began formal training when she was 17, and graduated with a music major from the Catholic University of America in 2011.

For Massimei, music is an extension of her faith. Serving as a cantor was the logical transition as she grew from participating in church choirs to working as a soloist.

“Every time I sing, it’s a prayer. It’s the rawest form of emotion for me. It’s how I am able to express what I’m feeling,” Massimei said. “As stupid as it sounds, I feel like God’s able to hear me better when it’s coming out of my soul.”

Thomas Stehle, music director at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, selected Massimei as one of the vocalists. Cantors have a very specific role during a Mass, he said, where, “their presence and their voice and their comfort and interpretation can energize the assembly.”

Using their emotions and gestures can advise the assembly on how they are supposed to engage, drawing out their singing and their voices, Stehle said.

Though Massimei has served as cantor for bishops and cardinals in the Washington area before, meeting politicians and diplomats along the way, the experience of meeting the pope is different and a bit nerve wracking.

“I’m completely overwhelmed. I keep waking up and saying, ‘It’s not me, it’s not real,’” she said. “I’ve gotten nervous for every imaginable scenario, from having a hiccup on screen in front of the cameras…to tripping, to forgetting somebody’s name.”

Untrained College Professor from St. Mary’s College

For nearly two and a half years, damage from a 2012 bout of laryngitis prevented Jeff Byrd from singing, and he had only recently begun cantoring at his home church, St. Cecilia Parish in St. Mary’s City, again. But when the woman complimented his singing voice, inviting him to join their choir, he felt confident it had returned.

Byrd explained to the woman that he was just visiting their parish, but mentioned an invitation he’d just received to audition for the Archdiocesan Papal Choir. The stranger was amazed.

“She was like, ‘No, you have to audition. You need to,’” Byrd said. “It was almost like an angel sent to me. I really needed that push. I wasn’t sure whether I would do it, but it’s like she made me realize that it was important and I should take the leap.”

Byrd, who has had no formal voice training, is a biology professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. When he isn’t instructing a principles of biology course and lab sections, he cantors at St. Cecilia’s.

It’s through this cantoring, he said, that he received an invitation in his inbox to audition. After serious consideration and some hesitation about the strength of his voice, Byrd was one of more than 300 people to audition — he balanced learning the sheet music with grading his students’ final exams — and one of 90 to make the official choir.

When the papal choir performs Wednesday on a lawn in front of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where the pope is scheduled to celebrate Mass, it will be a significant change in Byrd’s typical Wednesday afternoon location: the lab.

Samantha Elliott, an associate professor, will cover Byrd’s courses on “Pope Day,” as the department has dubbed Sept. 23. According to students, Elliott said, the best description of Byrd’s speaking voice is something akin to Kermit the Frog. When he sings, though, he is a bass, the lowest vocal range of all voice types.

The difference in tone is surprising, but may not shock students, said administrative assistant Frances Titus, who also attends St. Cecilia’s.

“He sings all the time on campus. As he’s coming down the hall, running from point A to point B, you can hear him singing. He’s always singing,” Titus said.

»Portrait of Christina Massimei. (Photo provided by Christina Massimei); CNS photo of Jeff Byrd