As memorable as the honors recital was, it wasn’t quite as dramatic for me as the recital which came right after it... the senior recital of a very special voice student of mine named Matt Weiskotten. When he transferred to Carthage several years ago and began studying voice with me soon after, his main idea
Yesterday was stuffed to the gills with music. It started with two services at Holy Communion in the morning for which I played organ . . . and ended at 10:10 with my last jury rehearsal at Carthage . . . and in between was Carthage’s honors recital, the senior recital of one of my
7:35 p.m. I am sitting backstage at Reuther High School Auditorium- the hall where the Kenosha Symphony plays its concerts- but this is not a night of Tchaikovsky symphonies. I am here to play piano for a singer who is competing in the first annual Kenosha’s Got Talent competition- and I can hardly believe what
There was plenty of excitement tonight at the Racine Theater Guild, and not just during tonight’s preview performance of “The Producer.” (Which went amazingly well, by the way.) For me, the biggest excitement came afterwards, as the cast was greeting well-wishers down in the green room and the crew was putting things away. As I
Tonight was the joint junior voice recital for two of Carthage’s most splendidly talented singers- soprano Jillian Swanson and tenor Andrew Johnson.... but by no means was tonight a can’t - miss proposition. Voice recitals almost never are. First of all, neither of them had ever sung a full blown recital before- and both were
The Racine Theater Guild is in the final week of rehearsals for “The Producers” - and there’s no question that it’s one of the most ambitious undertakings in their history. It requires a talented and sizable cast - splashy dance numbers - lots of special effects - and a potent helping of chutzpah (is that
Although I had some mighty fun accompaniments to play on Sunday afternoon’s concert, my favorite piece was actually a gentle a cappella piece by Rene Clausen called “Prayer” which I had never heard or even heard of before we began rehearsals. The text is a prayer by Mother Teresa. Help me. Help me spread Your
One especially heartwarming moment for me in the last few days was when a student named Matt Staller came up to me and asked if the choir was going to be singing its surprise song for Mr. Noble as we had the last two years. And just as he was asking the question, another singer
There’s been a special glow hanging around the Carthage campus for the last five days, thanks to the presence of a certain special visitor named Weston Noble. . . although by now it sounds sort of odd to call him a visitor. Carthage has become a very special place in Mr. Noble’s heart - sort
I may have spent eight exhausting (exhilarating) hours running around State Solo & Ensemble, but that wasn’t nearly as draining or difficult as the three hours I spent that evening with Marshall watching the closing night performance of Carthage’s “Sunday in the Park with George” as nothing more than an audience member! It’s not that
