It was about ten years ago when I first heard from a middle school choral director in Racine named Keri Bieri – who presides over one of the finest middle school choir programs ANYWHERE – who was hoping I might be willing to begin teaching voice lessons to a student of hers who was about to move on to high school. She used the term “special” more than once in describing him,  but little did I know just how special Mike Anderle would turn out to be!  Mike was one of those very rare boys who managed to weather his voice change with astonishing effortlessness.   As Keri described it, one day he was a lovely boy soprano and the next day he was a lovely young tenor.   There was none of the wrenching turbulence that is much more typical and which probably does more than anything else to divert boys away from singing.  Mike was blessed to avoid any of that,  and by the time he arrived at my house for his first lesson,  his voice had already changed and settled and was one of the most naturally beautiful voices I had ever heard from a ninth grade boy.   In fact,  from a technical point of view there was remarkably little for me to do with Mike except to do some tweaking of his technique; mostly I just needed to let him grow and mature without pushing him too hard.  The primary focus in those first several years was for me to help him learn to sing with more sincere and convincing expressiveness – and once Mike developed the courage to be vulnerable, the expressiveness followed very impressively indeed.

(This photo is from when Mike was in high school and competing in Solo & Ensemble.  His judge on this occasion was Paul Marchese,  another former voice student of mine from Carthage.)

By the time Mike began his freshman year at Carthage, he was one of the most complete singers with whom I had ever worked- but he wasn’t done!  If anything,  Mike worked even more diligently during his years at Carthage (very likely inspired by some very talented and hard working guys who were part of his class) and exceeded my every expectation.   (As I type those words,  it strikes me how rare it is when a student manages to do that.  Far more often than not,  students have all kinds of potential that they never quite manage to reach, due to any number of factors – illness, outside distractions, laziness, lack of focus, lack of confidence, etc.  There are all kinds of things that can keep a young singer from being their very best, so a story like Mike’s is worth telling – and celebrating.)

But the story of Mike Anderle is not just about his God-given talent and his dedicated efforts to make the most of that talent … but also about the terrific young man he has become.  Mike is a very intriguing combination of earnest, solid, law & order seriousness  AND mad-cap, fun-loving craziness.  Any of his choir directors-  Keri Bieri,  Elizabeth Steege,  Eduardo Garcia-Novelli-  will attest to the enormous force for good that someone like Mike can be in an ensemble,  and I saw that with my own eyes.  Certainly he was also that as part of Carthage’s opera workshop year after year, delivering one superb performance after another and setting a very high bar of professionalism while also having a ball.  In fact, I think one of the things that makes me smile the most when I think about Mike is how he and his close friend Nick Huff (yet another superb singer) were passionate, dedicated students and also goofballs who would leap out from around a corner to scare some unsuspecting soul (like Sarah Gorke.)   They were fine young men who retained plenty of ‘boy’ in their personalities, in what seems to me to have been just the right balance.   And while we’re at it,  I think it bears mentioning that Mike and Nick happen to inhabit decidedly opposite sides of the political aisle …. one an ardent conservative and the other an ardent liberal …. and yet they have found a way to be devoted friends with each other, finding plenty of common ground in what matters most.  In an era when our country seems to be hopelessly mired in irreversible divisiveness,  I look at their friendship and see a rare ray of much-needed hope.

Why all of this gushing?   On the 8th of July,  in a beautiful church in the tiny town of Frohna, Missouri,  Mike married another talented Carthage graduate named Alicia Petzholdt –  and Kathy and I were delighted to be there to share in the celebration.

Kathy has always had a very soft spot in her heart for Mike-  and during the weekend she remarked more than once about how Mike was always exceptionally respectful and polite (he still calls me Mr. Berg) yet made himself at home whenever he was at our house.  She doesn’t mean that he would raid the refrigerator without asking,  but just that he seemed to understand and appreciate that our home was his home and it made it so much easier to enjoy each other’s company.   And after 8 years of having him as a voice student, there was no way on earth that we were going to let anything as insignificant as 450 miles of distance keep us away from this service.   I was also happy to serve as organist for the service and to offer up the beloved old song “Bless this House.”  I dare say, however, that the music that left the deepest impression on everybody there was when all of the Carthage Choir alumni who were present joined together in singing Walter Rodby’s “The Blessing of Aaron,” which has been the choir’s theme song for many years now.   Several of the groomsmen and bridesmaids were joined by a number of alumni in the congregation who stood around the perimeter of the sanctuary for a performance that was gorgeous and moving.   It was the perfect way to finish out a truly lovely wedding.

The reception later that evening was very fun as well – and beyond all of the elegance that one expects in such gatherings was a hearty celebration of family and friendship that is so much what Mike and Alicia are all about.  We were happy to share a table with Don and Judy Kirby (Judy teaches at Carthage) as well as the parents of Kevin Gussel, a former voice student of mine at Carthage and one of Mike’s groomsmen.  We were glad that two other groomsmen,  John Kryl and Fletcher Paulsen, stopped by our table for a few minutes-  and I also managed to cross paths with Nick and his family as well.   And beyond that were other Carthage students and alums plus Dr. Peter Dennee,  who had also made the trip.  To be perfectly frank,  it had to be quite a long trip for just about every one of these Carthage folks,  but it’s a testament to how loved Mike and Alicia are that so many of them made the long trip – and you could really feel the love in the room.

And when Mike and his mother Holly took to the dance floor for the traditional groom-and-his-mother dance,  they did so with the energetic fun that has been a hallmark of Mike’s life for as long as I’ve known him.

When I think back on that weekend,  that particular image is among the most indelible. It made me grateful all over again that Keri Bieri called me up ten years ago to tell me about this remarkable boy named Mike,  who has become a remarkable young man.

Best wishes, Mike and Alicia, in this exciting new chapter of your lives.