This is a real blast from the past for me-  it’s the final encore of my senior voice recital at Luther College back in mid-November 1981.  (It doesn’t seem possible that this was 34 years ago.)  After music of Benedetto Marcello,  Johannes Brahms,  Georges Bizet, Maurice Ravel and Ralph Vaughan Williams, I surprised the audience with three  music theater encores featuring my friend, high school classmate and frequent singing partner Amy Nichols,  who drove all the way from Blair, Nebraska to be there. (I returned the favor by driving to Dana College to sing on her senior recital later that year.  What are friends for?)  Marjorie Wharton very ably accompanied the actual recital,  but I  took over the piano for these three encores:  “If I Loved You” (Carousel), “Why Do I Love You?” (Showboat) and “So in Love” (Kiss me, Kate.)   The last was especially fun for us to sing because it’s the duet we sang at state music contest our senior year-  and we really blew the walls down, if I do say so myself.

Although my high school voice teacher, Cherie Carl,  deserves the most credit for the singer I went on to become,  I think I also owe a debt of thanks to Amy.  I’m sure that collaborating with such a strong and skilled singer  – with a huge, glorious voice – on a very frequent basis did wonders for me, vocally and otherwise.