As I am typing these words, I am listening in the background to the final performance of the Racine Theater Guild's production of Fiddler on the Roof, which has been one of the most charmed productions in all of my years with the RTG. (And I've been directing musicals here since 2003.) Without a
May 27, 1986 was a very important day for me - my very first day working at WGTD as its Fine Arts Director. It's fun- but also difficult- to remember what the station was like back then, which by now seems like the dark ages. In one way, the station was larger than it
I love how Carthage does its Commencement. It is a ceremony that is built on solid, substantial traditions and rendered with a careful attention to detail and a reverence for ritual. But beyond all that, it also feels like a celebration in which people are allowed to breathe freely and enjoy themselves - at
I used to have a rather simplistic view of Commencement Day and the conflicting emotions that it evokes. In my mind, I saw three distinct constituencies with three distinct emotional profiles: the new graduates elated and eager to move on to the next chapter - the faculty sad to see them go - and
For as long as I've been at Carthage, there has been a sincere and concerted effort to be a welcoming and inclusive community- but when it has come to important events like Baccalaureate, the school has emphatically embraced its identity as a school of the Lutheran church. But tonight was the school's first truly
In the last two days, I have been given two of the most touching compliments I have ever received - and I think part of what made them so touching was that they were both completely unexpected. The first came yesterday as I finished up a voice lesson with one of my guys who was
There are plenty of ways in which I live up to the moniker of "The Messy Professor." All you have to do is glance at the interior of my car or either of my studios to realize how fitting the nickname is. But once in a while, I manage to do something that takes
This is a performance from the most recent Honors Recital at Carthage- May 15, 2016. One of my sophomore voice students, Austin Merschdorf sang three songs by Gerald Finzi …. each one related in one way or another to Death. The text of the song is by a poet friend of Finzi's named Edmund Blunden.
That's the Italian word "Fine" - pronounced "Fee-neh" - which is a musical term meaning "ending." I remember as a youngster that I would occasionally see this at the end of the line in a piano piece I was playing and assumed that it was the English word "Fine" as in "You're doing just
I posted a photo on Facebook of the opening night curtain call of the Racine Theater Guild's production of Fiddler on the Roof - a photo with my wife Kathy and Davidson Kane, as Golda and Tevye, at the center of it. One of the comments posted came from a friend at Holy Communion, Kathy
