How alumni connections sparked the Bob Cole Chamber Choir's new album

One night in December 2025, Jonathan Talberg, the director of Choral Studies at Cal State Long Beach, was having dinner at a popular Long Beach Italian restaurant with Andrew Balogh ’09.

Talberg, the Frank M. Pooler professor of music, was telling Balogh how well the Bob Cole Chamber Choir’s first album, “Soneto,” was doing. It got glowing reviews and over 6,000 downloads and plays per month on streaming services during its first year.

After some discussion over pizza and pasta, the two agreed to record a second album. Balogh — a Grammy Award-winning producer who has worked with some of pop and contemporary music’s biggest stars — would do it for free, if Talberg would hire his engineer and find a great space to record.

Six months later, they made it happen. For four days and three nights in June, 39 CSULB students from the chamber choir took up residence at the historic Mission San Antonio de Padua in Monterey County. After months of practice, they recorded an a cappella album of German and Californian Romantic composers, including two alumni of Cal State Long Beach.

They sang and recorded for eight hours a day in the heart of the main church, in front of the altar. They cooked and shared meals together in the old kitchen and slept in the same cloisters where monks and Spanish missionaries resided for decades. They learned to blend their voices, sustain their energy for extended periods of time and make beautiful music in unison.

It was a rare learning experience that gave students a taste of a professional recording environment, offering a glimpse of what a career in music might look and sound like.

‘It’s about telling a story’

For the second album, to be titled “Horizon,” the choir sang works by 19th century composer Felix Mendelssohn, five tracks by SoCal transplant Matthew Nielsen (who was present), and original compositions by alumni Matthew Lyon Hazzard '19 and Zanaida Stewart Robles '02, a recent 49 under 49 honoree.

“I think it’s the best work we’ve ever done,” said Talberg, who also took this choir and the University Choir to New York’s Carnegie Hall for a performance this past summer. “The sound in the church is spectacular, and there was almost zero noise bleed from the outside world. You’ll hear some crickets and birds in the tracks, and we loved them so we’re keeping them in.”

“Horizon,” recorded in the mission 280 miles north of CSULB’s classrooms, is scheduled to be released on all streaming platforms in January 2027.

Fourth-year music education major Ilyssa Bonfiglio said she learned how to take notes, accept criticism, and then apply it.

“We learned how to create a consistent sound, and figure out what the best one will be,” she said. “For choir, you’re as strong as your weakest link. It’s not a solo performance; it’s a group performance. I’m kind of loud, singing-wise. Ultimately, it’s about telling a story. You don’t need to be loud all the time.”

Mary-Mac Cullity, a fourth-year music education student who is specializing in choir conducting, concurred. “I learned, especially during the recording, to trust myself, and trust my fellow singers, that we will sing to the best of our ability. Trust the process. Give myself to the music. Trust my fellow musicians and sing our hearts out.”

Cullity said listening to her fellow singers was as important as singing herself. She hopes one day to teach choir at the high school level, but to continue with professional singing gigs. Indeed, alumni from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music have a long track record of singing for movie and TV soundtracks, singing and performing with live acts on stages throughout the country, and teaching at high schools and universities nationwide.

Talberg says he’s proud of what the choir has accomplished and hopes each student can continue in a career related to music, even though that path can be challenging.

“Recording an album at CSULB prepares them to do the same — for movies, video games, commercials and the like — when they leave,” he said. “You don’t want to face a microphone for the first time as a professional! You need to do it as a student.”