Rockridge Chorale, Oakland, CA

The Mission of the Rockridge Chorale, founded in 2003, is to bring the Joy of Choral Music and friendship to seniors who are confined to retirement homes, convalescent hospitals, nursing care facilities, and villages.    

Devi Jameson is the director and the force behind this professionally recognized group. Of Indian heritage, she was born in Shanghai and grew up in India where she developed her love of and skills at piano and choral music. After moving to the US she continued studying music and directing church choirs while pursuing her career as a Public School Director, and raising three children. She and her husband live in the Rockridge area of Oakland California and enjoy the company of three beautiful grand children.    

In 2003 Devi started her own community choral group, called the Rockridge Chorale,  limited to 32 well trained singers. The group sings 10-15 concerts a year in senior centers, hospitals and retirement facilities. Once a year a large choral production is held that is open to the public. The group has on many occasions joined other choral groups and produced larger concerts with the intention of fund raising for needy organizations. The group has raised funds for Darfur, Save the Children, National Association for the Mentally Ill, and numerous other causes.  The chorale sang the Haydn Lord Nelson Mass at Carnegie Hall and Carmina Burana under the auspices of DCINY (Distinguished Concerts International New York). The group has traveled to Bangalore, India, and to Newcastle UK to perform joint concerts. The Rockridge Chorale has sung at Durham Cathedral in the UK and other venues in England and India.  

The group’s repertoire serves a wide population of audiences, from the popular music of the Beatles, from the musical Hamilton, to Faure, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Rutter, and many other composers and arrangers. 

In the words of Rockridge's choir director - Devi Jameson - 

"Singing is therapy; just singing feels good, and you double the joy when you sing to somebody who is a sponge taking in that joy, and you feel that sharing of joy. In addition you meet nice people and get a chance to contribute something that you wanted to do and never did before."