Interlochen Arts Academy, Class of 1984 Class Newsletter, Volume Two (with news from IAA ’83 and ’85, too!)

Hello and welcome to our Class of 1984 Alumni newsletter!

If you are new to this site, take a few minutes to read up on our class. I've been working with the Alumni Office at IAA (YEAH for Anne Shoup) for over a year to get us all back in touch. My goal is to get in touch with every single one of you, so if you're reading this and haven't emailed me, please take a minute and do so. If you want to send me an update, that's great. If you don't have time to do that just yet, at least send me your email address and current snail mail address, so you can start receiving the Crescendo magazine and our class email updates.

Our 25th reunion is the next biggie coming up, in 2009. Stay in the loop and we'll all meet back up in the great North Woods for an awesome weekend.

Sounding the Call for YOU,

Laurie (Housholder) Orth ‘84

ljdeorth@nauticom.net

Chris Anthony

I am doing well, getting ready ALREADY for Christmas concerts, doing privates, and gigging when possible. I started a new idea, "Open Mic for Tots", where I go to restaurants/ clubs, bringing in 5-8 kids per night, and have them “sit in” with the band. The restaurants love it, as they spend $ on dinner first, then play, and everyone is happy. I am doing one tonight actually. It is fun, and I NEVER will lose the gig! Gotta run.

Hilary Aptowitz

I am in a show right now called "Fool Me Once". It is a political satirical musical review in which I play MANY characters and sing some 9 songs!! Some of my roles include Theresa Heinz Kerry, Jenna Bush and Becky Toothy Soccer Mom!! It is a hoot and has gotten tons of press in Portland (Maine). The Bed and Breakfast is the busiest it's been all year with leaf peepers, and this weekend's visit of the Queen Mary cruise ship (largest in the world!).

Just recently I was visited by Jennifer Nash (IAA 81-83) who is doing great and is as beautiful as ever. Also had a wonderful visit from Lisa Maddalone who is newly married and still glowing with post-marital bliss!! I just sent a gift off to Hemi Lee who is getting married next weekend, and while Lisa was here, we touched base with Chaille Percival DeFaria via phone, and she too sounded happy and well. I still want to go back up to IAA for another extended weekend to revisit friends....or have a weekend here in Maine....or perhaps New York City????

Beth Denton had a second baby Mary Mae, and I have been corresponding with her on the phone, and Angela Harris (Grondlund) lives here in Maine and we see each other now and again. She and her husband have a furniture making business together and are restoring an old farmhouse which is quite lovely!!! I also reconnected with Nick Wolff (IAA 80-81) who has just had another baby and he sounded great with hands full!

About a month ago, I had a conversation with Jack Driscoll on the phone and it seems he is doing some teaching again this year at IAA. He had quite a summer traveling and working on his house. It was good to hear his kind voice.

This is Katherine Burkwall-Ciscon

(i.e. the formerly long-haired pianist, class of 1984) down in Houston. I can't even remember if I've e-mailed you my current job/stats (pathetic, huh) so here goes: For the last 11 years now I've been principal pianist at Houston Ballet—so that means lots of hours of rehearsal (rather like an opera coach...my previous job) and some great solo work (Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini coming up this spring!) I'm married, one son (16)—they're both engineers/computer experts so when I crash the e-mail I know where to go... Two big Labradors and 3 ferrets (and a partridge in a pear tree.

Courtney Christensen (IAA 83-85)

I'm so short on time these days to think of a creative way to summarize the last 20 years, but I'll give it a stab at a short version.

I finished my undergrad with a BA in American Studies at William & Mary, went overseas in 1989 to Slovakia to work with "Education for Democracy", followed my heart to Sweden, where I lived for 3+ years working for a publication. Moved back to US before I started getting rooted overseas. Landed in Boston with a Financial Services company, went to get my MBA and continued afterwards in consulting, where I am now working at John Hancock Annuities.

I got married a few years ago to Jay Michaud and we have Caroline who is now 3 and Ben who is 17 months old. We live in Lexington, MA in a historic colonial home located just steps from the Lexington Green where the battle that set off the revolution took place against the "regulars", or British.

Between working and motherhood I find myself with little time to do anything else these days. I haven't kept up with my artistic side whatsoever, and feel envy, admiration and guilt when I read the success stories from the IAA alumni network. That's all for now.

Maribeth Clark

After Interlochen, I went to Rice University and graduated with a major in music history. By the time I finished I knew I didn’t want to be a performer (flute), and I had this idea that if I went to graduate school in musicology I would learn to write (HAH!). So I applied to a couple of programs in warm places (one thing I learned from the IAA experience—I like warm climates!), and ended up going to UNC-Chapel Hill, where I got a MA in music literature. Longing to become hip, urban, and well-educated, I moved on to Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania to another program in musicology, where I finished a dissertation in 1998 on French grand opera and dance.

While in Philadelphia, instead of becoming hip, I became a folkie of sorts, played for English country dances and contra dances, and danced quite a bit. I met my husband, Andrew, at one of these dances. We have two daughters, Esther, who’s 7, and Charlotte, who just turned 1.

When I finished at Penn I got a job at New College of Florida (www.ncf.edu), an experimental, public liberal arts college in Sarasota, about an hour south of Tampa. Having grown up in Florida, I am thrilled to be back on the Gulf Coast, and enjoy nothing more than going to the beach with my family, collecting shells and manatee fossils, catching crabs and fish and letting them go. New College reminds me a lot of Interlochen, with its small population of intellectual and socially active students (60+ faculty, nearly 700 students). I just got tenure last year, and now am serving as Chair of the Division of Humanities. So far administration agrees with me. So does teaching and writing about music. I’m still growing as a writer and a teacher, and just this semester started playing flute after a long hiatus. I love the flexibility and var