Steve Charles—Indianapolis Symphonic Choir Artistic Director and Butler University Professor of Music Eric Stark ’88 writes about his return to the Wabash campus for Homecoming and the Glee Club Reunion in an entry in his “Indy Sings” blog.
“I’ve long sensed the strong bond felt among choral musicians… I see it with my students, members of the Symphonic Choir, in churches,” Stark writes. “But it was brought home to me again, more clearly than before, during this past weekend’s Wabash College Homecoming and the Alumni Glee Club Reunion.”
Wabash Glee Club Director Richard Bowen invited Stark to guest conduct several numbers during the Homecoming Concert that Saturday.
“His invitation, and that opportunity, meant more to me than he might have guessed,” Stark writes. “The Wabash Glee Club was an important part of my pivot to music after a sequence of aborted academic majors in my freshman year. Singing on tours to Florida, Pittsburgh and New York City, under the leadership of Dr. Stanley Malinowski, gave me my first tastes of choral leadership and conducting. In fact, my conducting debut was with the Glee Club in a concert at DePauw University for Monon Bell Weekend many years ago. To lead this group now as an established professional would be an opportunity to savor indeed!”
And Eric did savor the moment.
“I was thinking how proud I am to be from a small school where 100 guys get together on a Saturday night and sing,” he told the audience as he stepped forward to conduct during the Homecoming Concert. Later, he offered one of the evening’s most moving moments while introducing the spiritual, “My Lord, What a Mornin’.”
“When you return to a reunion like tonight, you can’t help but think of the person who sang next to you,” Stark told the audience. “This song is for those who could not be with us tonight: those whose schedules did not permit it, and those who were taken from us all too soon.”
You can read Eric’s complete entry on “Indy Sings.”
