Where did you receive your professional music training?
Myundergraduate degree is from UWM and my graduate degree is from WCCM, from thatbrief period when the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music also had “College” in itsname. But my real professional training has come from associations withmany fine musicians and educators in my work life.
Tell us about your newly appointed role on the national board ofEarly Music America.
Early Music America is a national service organizationfocused on all phases of early music education, performance and promotion in North America. I was invited to serve on the nationalboard because EMN is one of the most successful early music series in thecountry, and because I’ve been involved in workshops for emerging early musicperformers for the national organization.
You have also recently been appointed convener of the WisconsinDistrict of the American Guild of Organists?
I have beeninvolved in church music virtually all my life and have recently completed aterm as dean of the Milwaukeechapter of this guild, in which capacity I wrote topical articles that attractedthe attention of upper levels of this organization.
A “convener”?
Yesthe roleis essentially a conduit for communication among local chapters and individualsthroughout Wisconsinwith the region and national office.
Whendid you first become interested in early music?
Because of my earlyinvolvement in music of the Roman Catholic Church, when chant and Renaissancemusic were more widely used, I have always had a love of this music. When I hadmy own chamber chorus and orchestra here in Milwaukee in the ’70s and ’80s, we performedeverything from chant to avant-garde. In the mid-’80s I had the opportunity toproduce and direct medieval drama for Milwaukee’sCathedral of St. John the Evangelist, deepening my experience with the genre.When I returned to Milwaukee from Ohio in 1999 I wasapproached to take on a leadership role with EMN.
