That music would become the dominant force in Christina Wilhelm’s life would not have surprised the nuns at her convent nursery school who reported to her mother that her precocious two-year-old refused to take naps like the other children, preferring instead to play at the piano.
Whether her piano prowess at age two was worthy of an audience is not clear, but it is clear that Wilhelm’s persistent pursuit of excellence has been recognized and rewarded in multiple ways throughout her life. Her mastery of the piano and academic achievement led to her acceptance at the prestigious High School for Music and Art in Manhattan.
She chose, instead, to attend the highly-rated Fontbonne Hall Academy in Brooklyn where she had lived since birth. While still in high school, influenced no doubt by her jazz musician brother, she frequented Child’s Paramount, one of the premier jazz venues in the country where she rubbed shoulders with jazz greats of the day, including piano virtuoso Marian McPartland who, impressed with Wilhelm’s piano proficiency, offered to take her on as her protégé.
It was on her seventeenth birthday, after having just finished a dress rehearsal for a choral performance at Carnegie Hall, that Midshipman Frederick Wilhelm literally danced into Wilhelm’s life and immediately changed its course forever. So enthralled was she with the company of her newfound beau that she failed to show up for the Carnegie concert the night after they first met. “I don’t know how it happened,” she confesses.
As the couple continued to date, Wilhelm finished high school and enrolled as a music major at Hunter College but dropped out to marry Fred. The newlyweds moved to McAllen, Texas to begin what was to become a five-year tour of Air Force bases in Texas. Wilhelm met the challenge of being a military wife, raising a family and continuing her growth as a musician by taking courses at Texas Tech and Texas A&M and serving as the accompanist for the Men’s Chorus at Bryan AF Base.
Fred’s post-military employment took the family first to New Jersey where Christina enrolled at Douglas College earning a B.A. in Piano Performance and then to Massachusetts where she received an M.A. in Education and Pastoral Ministry from Emmanuel College. After a stint at teaching high school, she accepted the position of Director of Music and Liturgy for the Archdiocese of Boston, where she was accorded the rare privilege of directing a choral performance at the Vatican. Two years in the making, the concert by the St. Patrick Church Choir (of which Fred was a member) was of such importance that, according to Wilhelm, every church in Rome had the poster displayed on its door.
Boston is also where, as a volunteer, Wilhelm started the acclaimed Charlestown Chorale which served as the unofficial chorus for both the Boston Freedom Trail and the historic vessel, the USS Constitution.
So how did Patagonia land a musician of such caliber? As Wilhelm remembers it, she and Fred were exploring the area some twenty years ago while visiting her brother who was living in Lake Havasu. As they enjoyed lunch at the former Karen’s Café in Sonoita, the sky was blue, it was snowing and a herd of antelope went right by the window. The experience so captivated them that they decided to look for a home here.
Having now spent two decades in Patagonia, Wilhelm’s musical contributions to this community’s cultural fabric are numerous. From her piano performances and choral leadership to her work in founding and directing the Santa Cruz Singers, the Tapestry Chamber Ensemble and the Santa Cruz Foundation for the Performing Arts, her musical gifts have brought joy to area residents and visitors. And now, Wilhelm’s ability to bring people together has resulted in the Benderly-Kendall Opera House, an extraordinary cultural gem that will enable musicians to thrill audiences far into the future.
Although she has every right to be proud of her many achievements, Wilhelm eschews pride in favor of simply expressing joy at having been able to promote unity and understanding through her music. “This is my mission,” she explained. “Music is the only way to bring people together.”