Like my new watch? This is the first watch I’ve owned in quite some time, mostly because I had demonstrated this uncanny knack for losing them- and the more expensive they were, the quicker they would vanish right off of my wrist and into oblivion. Part of the problem is that I didn’t really care
It’s 11:33 p.m. - - - and I am WIDE awake, thanks in large part to a post-performance high from tonight’s joint voice faculty recital at Carthage. It was almost all of us sharing the stage (our colleague Sarah Gorke, regrettably, was missing because of an off campus teaching obligation) for a celebration of William
She was beautiful in every way that a person can be beautiful, so it was fitting that her funeral was beautiful, too - but I don’t mean that it was beautiful in a string quartets were playing-the floral sprays were gigantic-everything was just so kind of way. It was beautiful in how it so perfectly
On this St. Patrick’s Day, I am thinking back fondly to this past Saturday night and a memorable night of Irish music of which I was privileged to be a part. It was a concert given by the Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin (formerly the Racine Symphonic Chorus) in which they collaborated with a
I am typing this as I take my very first Amtrak ride, and I am feeling very grateful to be here, safe and sound and aboard what I’m pretty sure is the correct train, bound for Chicago. I am going to “Carmen” tonight at the Lyric, but because it’s spring break I wanted to spend
There are two really sad things on my mind this afternoon.... the devastating disaster in Japan, which seems to be worsening by the hour..... as well as the death early this morning of our good friend Sharon Johnson, who has battled cancer for the last two years. I just can’t take in all of that
I ran in a track meet this morning - the Case High School Sprint and Hurdle Relays, also known as Racine’s Solo & Ensemble music competition. Remember the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel take a job in a chocolate factory, and find it impossible to keep up on the assembly line as
Readers of this blog may wonder why I’ve written next to nothing about the ugly political turmoil that has rocked the state of Wisconsin over the past few weeks. It’s not that I don’t care deeply about such events or that I’m not directly impacted by them, but as one of the on-air voices of
Last night, Racine bade farewell to an exceptionally fine man and musician named David Bremel, who died last week after a long battle with leukemia. It was amazing to look out into the congregation gathered at Atonement Lutheran Church and see all kinds of well known musicians from the community - music educators, church choir
Last night, I wrote of my happy - almost giddy - exhaustion in the wake of Kenosha’s solo & ensemble contest. Then this morning, I received an email which contained a very poignant poem written by a music teacher for whom this year’s contest was shadowed by more than a little melancholy. For this particular
