Calvary Christian School’s Omid Heidari Sets The Musical Bar High

By MAGNOLIA LAFLEUR | Reporter

It was in second grade during church in Kansas, when Omid Heidari caught the attention of a high school musical director. During the day, she arranged for him to leave school and attend rehearsals for the part of Jerome in “South Pacific,” a musical, where he stunned her with his unique talents and ability to hold a high A-pitch for eight counts. After this, he became a child of the stage, never performing less than two stage plays a year through the end of high school. Now, Heidari brings his talents to Pacific Palisades as head of Calvary Christian School’s Performing Arts Department.

“In many ways the arts gave me purpose and confidence, and connected me with my own emotions and expressiveness,” Heidari shared with the Palisadian-Post. “The arts teach you how to feel what others are feeling, that empathy I so cherish in teaching and allow you the ability to communicate that wide palette of emotions in breathtakingly new ways. But the arts also unlocked my physical world, thanks to my years in the Kansas State Youth Choir. I fundraised my little booty off selling cookie dough and poinsettias in order to attend our annual summer choir tour.

“The Youth Choir took me to Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Canada, Disney World and beyond. Once I had the opportunity to attend college in Los Angeles, I took it. And after I started traveling, I never stopped.”

In charge of both the music and theater curriculums at Calvary Christian School, Heidari brings his enigmatic style of music, experience and disciplined work ethic to the community—writing original pieces, and choreographing songs and dances for all the students, from preschool to middle school.

Theater Arts Teacher at Calvary Christian School and a close friend of Heidari’s, Alexandra Palmer has collaborated with Heidari to produce music, videos, plays and more.

“There are so many things that make Omid a remarkable teacher,”  Palmer told the Post. “He is truly lightning in a bottle. His energy, enthusiasm, creativity and talent are unmatched. Omid brings invaluable life experience, passion, empathy and a unique ability to relate to his students.

“It’s amazing to watch him teach. Kids of all ages, from TK to eighth grade, they hang on his every word and that’s because there is such an incredible sense of mutual respect.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Palmer worked with Heidari to create a show titled, “Morning Musings” as a means to create content that would uplift and support the students.

“Over the last couple of years when the world shut down, filled with worry, most of us didn’t know what to do. Omid chose to dedicate almost every single day of quarantine creating a morning show for our kids, to engage and bring our community together, and bring smiles to so many faces across the country,” Palmer said. “His only agenda: to bring people together during a time when we couldn’t feel further apart. The cornerstone of what he teaches in the classroom, as well as how he lives his life, is to encourage people to care for one another and leave the world a better place than they found it.”

“After my years working in the theater classroom, I sensed what students would miss about their school while away, even more than In-N-Out Fridays,” Heidari said. “They would be yearning for connection. We launched our first episode, only three minutes long, but the response was immediate and deafening: more. Months later, we had painstakingly crafted a 36-episode catalog, some extending to nearly a half hour.

“I wore every wig Amazon had to offer, we tried baking banana bread, encouraged fitness, wrote original wild songs and bore witness to the chaos around us. Kids submitted their own content to the show for each episode: dance moves, jokes, pet photos, magic tricks and more. Kids even outside our own school community were watching and sending in segments. We hoped, through this show, to model for our students that creativity has the power to unite, to process, to empathize and inspire. Having inspired kids to smile in the face of something as daunting as a global pandemic will forever be one of our most humbling accomplishments.”

Born in Oklahoma City and raised in Kansas, Heidari, at an early age, developed an appreciation for growing up in a small town, as well as a “get-it-done” attitude.

“By first grade I was already seated on the floor inside City Hall helping to untangle and fix Christmas light strands because I strongly felt the town needed to light Main Street every year,” Heidari recalled. “Also in first grade, I decided I wanted to learn the piano, after attending a concert with my grandparents. After attending a restaurant auction, my dad surprised me with an upright piano: $75 dollar winning bid. The bench had various names and numbers inscribed in the wood after years of sitting in a bar. I loved the unique twang, so unlike any other piano I’ve since played. I remember the piano tuner coming to the house and tightening-up the strings.

“I asked him to play me a song before he left and he launched into the most incredible rendition of ‘Rocket Man’ I’ve ever heard. I was determined to practice until I could also master Elton John. And though mastery seems constantly out of reach, I was playing Elton’s entire catalog by the end of high school.”

Heidari went on to attend Pepperdine University in Malibu and has been working at Calvary Christian School for eight years. Heidari’s teaching style stands out due to the high-energy he was able to maintain through the pandemic, accompanied with his willingness to write original songs for the kids to perform.

Personalizing the music to the Palisades and current events, Heidari is able to draw more interest to the music program, engaging students in ways that have enhanced their experience at the school.

“Whether he intended to or not, Omid has created and nurtured such an incredible culture at Calvary,” Palmer said. “One where students with varying interest and experience in the arts can come together in a safe and loving environment to play, create and have fun. At Calvary, the arts are celebrated and encouraged unlike anything I have ever seen at an educational institution, and Omid has played a huge part in that. He cares so deeply for the families at Calvary, and for our community, and I know the feelings of love and respect are mutual.”

When he’s not at the school, spending countless hours working on original pieces for the children, or being inspired by artists like Elton John, Billy Joel or Lin-Manuel Miranda, he can be found working on his own full-length musical.

“I have a full-length musical that I would desperately love to finish, among other pursuits,” Heidari said to the Post. “The balance is always in finding the energy. When you teach, you leave the room a wrung-out towel.

“I have so many ideas and projects and artist energy stored in my brain. I cannot rest until it’s all out. And if there’s no end to that wellspring, then let it be so.”

Heidari said his most recent Calvary masterpiece, the Palisades Musical, had been a work-in-progress for nearly a year, leading up to the Palisades Centennial. His writing process included reading Betty Lou Young’s history and taking all the students through weeks of rehearsals, with each grade having their very own personally written musical.   

“I’m so blessed to be at Calvary,” Heidari said. “The admin, the parent group [and] the staff are so incredibly supportive of our program. They’ve never said no, they’ve only asked how they can help. They’ve created an environment where I feel inspired to write and create.

“From creating a children’s show broadcast during lockdown, to a documentary-musical hybrid movie we made with our graduating eighth grade class last year on their pandemic experiences, the sky is truly the limit.”