A life filled with music, from sacred to rap

On Sunday, the hills around the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre will be alive with the sound of sacred music, courtesy of Maurita Phillips-Thornburgh’s Cantori Domino choral group. The artistic director has also performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and sung on scores of movie soundtracks, including “Beauty and the Beast,” “Indiana Jones” and “Jurassic Park.” Sunday’s program, “A Joyful Noise,” will be augmented by the Panharmonic Steel Drum Orchestra and is part of the World Festival of Sacred Music, which runs through Oct. 2.

“Bunny,” as she’s known to friends, lives in Valencia with husband Wesley.

Family dinner

I’m very privileged because my sons, Eric and Peter, Peter’s wife, Ginger, and our grandsons, Jordan and Luke, still live close enough for all of us to get together for supper on Friday nights. We usually rotate homes every week, and I can’t imagine anything more wonderful. It’s a tradition for us to have a nice homemade soup and then some kind of special bread. Ginger is a great cook, and she always makes a beautiful dessert.

Then we usually sing or play instruments. Sometimes I select the music, and sometimes the others do. One of the grandsons plays piano and has been fooling around with composing, so sometimes he brings something he’s written. My son is a teacher, and he picks things up from the students, and so he might break into a rap to make a point. We’re not unfamiliar with rap in our house.

Coffee, crossword

On Saturday morning, the first order of business is to get the newspaper and take a cup of coffee onto the back patio. The molecules of my brain don’t line up right in the morning until I have my coffee and do the crossword.

Then, as part of an underground army of church musicians, we get together to practice at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, either the one in Santa Clarita or Glendale. On the way, we may stop at Starbucks or a bakery for a sweet roll.

After the music rehearsal, we’ll head over to the Smoke House in Toluca Lake for lunch. Or we’ll head over to the Huntington Library, where they have a very decent cafeteria and tea room. You can spend your entire day and the next just hanging out there and the Arboretum.

In the evening we like going out to the Hollywood Bowl or Disney Hall, and we’d eat at Patina. I’d have either the trout or the halibut or one of their wonderful salads with asparagus. Not too much food, but nicely presented.

Big ideas

On Sunday, I’m the director of music at St. Augustine by the Sea in Santa Monica. I grew up with sacred music, singing in a church choir and tackling piano and French horn. I’ve done all kinds of music, but I find sacred music is the most demanding, the most exciting and the most rewarding. It’s fun because it deals with the great questions and the big ideas.

After the service I’ll meet my friend and co-founder of Domino, Mary Gerlitz, for lunch at the Promenade. Later, I’ll come home and maybe rehearse. I love singing, and I work hard at taking care of my instrument. I think if you take care of yourself, you can sing well right up until you die. And who knows after that?

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-- Mark Sachs