Singing Oprah’s praises

Members of the John Burroughs High School Powerhouse show choir came home richer after a performance on the “The Oprah Winfrey Show” earlier this month — to the tune of $100,000 cash and a Baldwin grand piano, both courtesy of Dove Hair Care.

Dove also covered the expense of the trip to Chicago for the 50 students, their vocal music director Brendan Jennings and chaperons from April 1 to 3. The show aired at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

To celebrate, students and their families were invited to watch the show on a big screen in the Burroughs auditorium. Until then, the Powerhouse students were asked to keep the news of the donations a secret.

“What do we say to that?” Jennings said at the commercial break after Oprah revealed the gifts. “We love Oprah and Dove Hair Care.”

Jennings added that the Vocal Music Assn. members would create a committee to decide how the money would be spent producing shows.

Fundraising will continue in an effort to match the $100,000 gift, he said, and an endowment was to be created to provide scholarships to allow low-income students to participate in the award-winning program.

This year, Powerhouse won two championship invitational competitions held by Diamond Bar and Arcadia high schools, Jennings said, and received runner-up status at three others. And out of the five competitions, Powerhouse won best vocals for four.

“We’re very proud of that,” he said. “They really sing really, really well this year.”

Jennings is a Burroughs graduate and alumnus of Powerhouse, where his vocal music director was Mary Rago. He thanked her for starting the show choir at Burroughs and building it to what it is today.

Rago, now retired, attended the screening at Burroughs and said the event was exciting.

“They have to invest the money wisely, develop a scholarship program with it and make it work for the [music] program,” she said.

She was also elated with the Baldwin.

“I’m just so excited and thrilled about the new piano,” she said, adding that she babied the old one to make it last the 28 years she taught at Burroughs.

She guessed the value of the Baldwin at $60,000 and said it is the best piano to use when training the voice.

“Oprah Winfrey Show” producers had seen the high school’s 2008-09 show choir perform Madonna’s “Vogue” on YouTube and requested more footage, Jennings said. Three cast members of Fox television’s “Glee” stopped by the Powerhouse class March 24 to tell them they were chosen to appear on a show dedicated to the television cast.

“That’s when the tears started going,” said senior Chloe Patenaude, 17, who went on the trip. “Everyone couldn’t believe it. We were in total shock.”

The producers specifically asked if the group could perform “Vogue,” which was the 2008-09 Powerhouse competition piece, Jennings said. But half of that class had already graduated, so the former members were contacted and provided costumes on loan, Patenaude said.

The costumes were decadent 18th century gowns for the girls, and knickers and jackets for the boys, said costume designer Jennifer Oundjian, who is also the program’s artistic director and a Burroughs alumna.

Seeing her designs on national television was one of the happiest days of her life, Oundjian said.

“I was so proud,” she said. “It was an overwhelming moment.”

The trip was exciting, fun and the highlight of his high school career, said Dylan Dontanville, 18.

“I got to hug Oprah,” he said. “It was awesome.”

When Chris Coauette, 16, heard how much the check was, he said it was like his heart stopped.

“We were all screaming,” he said.

Driving home from the airport, it was hard to believe that 16 hours earlier Powerhouse had been on national television, he said.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life.”

Singing Oprah’s praises

Powerhouse choir lives up to its name with TV performance