The providential way that soprano Tami Comuzzi and pianist Shelley Field-Halliday first met seems fitting considering the musical partnership and ministry that resulted. Comuzzi recalls sitting at Mass at Our Lady of Fatima in Coquitlam when she first noticed Field-Halliday. “God told me she will be my best friend,” she said.
Two decades later, the graced nature of their meeting has grown into a well-known partnership that brings liturgical music to parishes around the Archdiocese of Vancouver. In one late-summer week alone, they were scheduled for four funerals and one wedding.
In the same period, they performed two benefit concerts, one in the gardens of St. Francis of Assisi parish in Vancouver, the other in the parking lot of their home parish in Coquitlam. “We are trying to create a European feeling—an André-Rieu-type experience—beautiful and outside,” Field-Halliday said. The “Tami and Friends” concerts, the first of which took place in 2019, raised funds for parish purposes and for a Knights of Columbus drive to purchase an ultrasound machine for Pregnancy Concerns, a Coquitlam crisis-pregnancy non-profit.
The concerts feature sacred and secular music, from Offenbach’s Barcarolle—a duet Comuzzi performs with Gina Oh, a teacher at St. Pius X school in North Vancouver—to a medley of ABBA hits. They also showcase supporting singers from a choir Comuzzi leads at her parish.
Comuzzi, a lyric soprano, has sung since childhood. As an adult with a Master’s degree in music, she found herself at a crossroads: pursue a professional career of great promise or focus on faith, marriage, and family. She chose the latter and, with husband David, was blessed with five children. “The Lord made it very clear to me that he wanted me to sing for him,” she said. “I put him first and he has blessed me.” Looking back, she says singing on the world’s stages would have been “an empty bucket.”
Field-Halliday, who with husband Sean also has five children, has played piano since she was young. She once won a music competition not because she was the best technically, but because of the passion with which she played. “I was told I have a gift that can move people to tears,” she said, “which I know is a gift of the Holy Spirit which can bring people to God.”
Their friendship quickly became collaboration, and in time, ministry. They provided music for live-streamed Masses during the pandemic and recorded a series of hymns and classical songs, which Comuzzi said were meant to give viewers “peace and comfort” during that difficult time. (The recordings are still available on YouTube).
Their funeral-music ministry grew organically, allowing the pair to expand their service and also support their families. At times the demand can feel overwhelming, Comuzzi admitted. “We’ll say, Lord, it’s too much.” But then, she added, some sign of reassurance will come—“And this is how we know we are doing what we are supposed to be doing.”
Father Larry Lynn, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Coquitlam, said he is both impressed and touched by the holiness the two bring to funeral Masses. “After Mass, they always go to a painting or statue of the Holy Mother and sing Immaculate Mary. It’s quite moving,” Father Lynn said.
Field-Halliday said they save every funeral program and pray each morning for all the men and women whose funerals they have helped celebrate.
“I think, through our music, we are fishers of men,” Comuzzi said. “We bring people to God, whether through funerals, weddings, Masses, or concerts.”
Field-Halliday agreed: “We are His instrument, and we have so much joy. It’s a ministry of happiness. And God is our agent.”
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