Birute T. Wilfert

Birutė 'Bea' Teresa Ralys Wilfert was born on March 24th, 1952, of Lithuanian parents Leonard and Albina Ralys in Amsterdam, NY. Her parents had emigrated in 1948 from Lithuania, where her father was a professional opera singer. When Bea was 6 months old, they moved to Richmond Hill in the New York City borough of Queens. It was there that her family grew by two: brothers Victor and Leonard Jr. When Bea was 7, she began studying piano at the Queens Borough Academy of Music. While attending Mass at the Lithuanian Annunciation Roman Catholic Church in Williamsburg, (Brooklyn) NY, she discovered her love of singing for God. She joined the Annunciation Church choir in 1975, where her joy in choral singing was amplified by working with her brother Victor, the church's organist and choir director. In 1980 she became a founding member of the Harmonija ("Harmony") quartet, originally formed to enhance the musical liturgy but which went on to perform a repertoire of traditional and modern Lithuanian works as well as American favorites from Broadway to pop - even doo-wop, a particular crowd-pleaser and one of Bea's favorite parts of the repertoire. From 1980 to 1986, Bea performed in this professional secular ensemble throughout the US and Canada, including the privilege of singing at a Mass for Pope John Paul II at Vatican City, and at Saint Patrick's Cathedral and Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park in New York City. Harmonija also recorded an album at RCA studios in New York City as well. Bea seamlessly managed a busy concert and rehearsal schedule with her full-time job as Executive Secretary and Marketing Assistant at McCann Erickson/Interpublic Advertising in Manhattan. With her marriage to Peter Wilfert in 1988 and the birth of their treasured son, Matthew, the following year, Bea relocated with her family and continued to raise her voice in yearly choral projects directed by her brother, Victor. These included sacred music concerts with singers from the Los Angeles Opera and Vilnius (Lithuania) Opera, North American Lithuanian Song Festivals and even the UNESCO World Heritage Event Song Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania, where her glowing smile and sparkling eyes dominated the huge screens over the concert venue. In 2001, Bea joined the Choral and Concert Choir at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and continued to sing faithfully with them. Her life was filled with the love of family, the love of her legion of friends and the love of her music through God