Boys’ Chorus Becomes an Enduring Voice : Music: The group, founded by Father Richard Coughlin, has grown steadily since its inception 20 years ago.

Little did Father Richard Coughlin expect that the All-American Boys’ Chorus he founded in 1970 would be going strong two decades later.

“I don’t really know what I expected at the beginning,” Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest, said in a recent interview from the internationally known choir’s headquarters here. The choir will sing a Christmas concert Sunday afternoon at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“I was hoping I could start something that would endure,” Coughlin continued. “That’s still my motivation. I set a goal of 500 years, like the Vienna Boys Choir. That’s what I had in mind. I hoped it would be something permanent.”

Coughlin said that 20 years have seen steady growth in the number of boys the choir has reached. “We have 117 youngsters in the program now. About 75, maybe a few more, are actually singing and performing in concerts. Then we have a number of boys at various stages at training.

“We have come upon specific levels of training. A boy now actually has to pass a singing exam on each piece in our repertoire as he trains, singing it for his section leader in the manner in which we perform it.

“It almost sounds cruel, but he has to do that on each of 40 pieces before he’s admitted to the concert chorus itself.”

The only requisite for joining the chorus, however, is an interest in music. Lessons and training come free, as long as the boys can advance through the various levels. Members are recruited from all over Orange County.

The ideal age for starting, Coughlin said, is 9, because “a 9-year-old has the attention span we need and also gives us the kind of discipline we need at rehearsals.” Most boys are able to stay until their voices change. Usually, the top age is 14.

So, Coughlin is always having to look ahead. “I’m like a high school or a college coach,” he said. “I’m always looking at my junior varsity and projecting down the road what the choir will be like in two to three years as these boys have matured. And I’m also looking for prospects.

“I have 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds and 8-year-olds who are actually waiting to come in and audition. I dreamed of a day when we would have a waiting list, and now we do.”

The chorus operates on a $500,000 annual budget, although Coughlin doesn’t get paid. His staff includes a marketing person, a financial officer and a transportation person who maintains three vehicles.

“We’re just about to hire what the Vienna Boys Choir calls a ‘prefect of discipline,’ ” he added, “someone to be in charge on the youngsters, especially when we have arrived at a concert site and are waiting to perform and when we have finished our performance.

“Those are the two weak parts of our program. The boys are worked up before they perform and after they perform. I’m usually occupied at those times. We need someone whose focus is on the boys at those times.”

The chorus sings more than 70 concerts a year, many of them during summer tours to the Pacific Northwest and western Canada. There have been 14 such consecutive tours; the choir also has sung in Austria, Romania and parts of the Soviet Union.

“Ideally, we like to sing with 36 boys,” Coughlin said. “That’s nine voices to a part, in four-part harmony.”

At the Performing Arts Center, however, 75 boys will participate because, Coughlin said, “the stage is large enough to take that number of singers.”

Coughlin is 66, and said that his age gives him concern about the future of the chorus (see accompanying story), but that his enthusiasm remains undimmed.

“We really want Orange County to know we are here for the community. There isn’t any other reason,” he said. “If ever I could trumpet anything, this would be it. I know how hard we’re trying, and I know the competence of the staff we have, and dearly want to make it available to the community. We want this to go to the moon, and beyond the moon.”

Father Richard Coughlin will lead the All-American Boys’ Chorus in “A Little Christmas Magic” Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $11 to $20. Information: (714) 533-7600.