My Story
At 10 years old two auspicious things happened- I began in secret to learn to play the piano and I saw my first Broadway musical, the 1965 revival of Carousel, starring John Raitt as Billly Bigelow. Studying the piano, whether formally in a school setting, or as a professional musician, has been a lifelong pursuit and taught me that music is a world that is rich, layered and complex and that there are always more discoveries to be made. Years after seeing John Raitt perform in Carousel I had the privilege of accompanying him in his musical biography concert. Life's synchronicities have fascinated and accompanied me as long as I can remember. Having the opportunity to witness John's supreme artistic confidence and learn something of the craft of musical theater from his collected wisdom is a treasure I hold dear.
I've enjoyed a multifaceted career in the performing arts, working as a musician, arts administrator, educator and producer. As an adminstrator in the non-profit world, I served as managing director for the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in lower Manhattan where I also curated music and poetry programming for the multi-arts center owned by the Archdiocese of New York. Previously I served as the Executive Director of the York Theatre Company where, among other shows,we produced original musicals like Cagney, award-winning revivals of Maltby and Shire's Closer Than Ever, and rare staged concert versions of Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night and Stephen Flaherty’s and Lynn Ahrens’ My Favorite Year in the York’s Musicals in Mufti Series.
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I've always had a passion for supporting musical theater writers, and for the York Theatre I helped curate and produce readings for Shaina Taub, Georgia Stitt, Carmel Dean, Ryan Scott Oliver, Michael R. Jackson and many others. At Perry-Mansfield School for the Performing Arts, in Steamboat Springs, CO I partnered with director Peter Flynn and with ASCAP’s Michael Kerker and Stephen Schwartz to help develop The Blue Flower (Jim and Ruth Bauer), Hudsucker Proxy (Glen Slater and Stephen Weiner) and River’s End (Cheryl Coons and Chuck Larkin). ​
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I've been fortunate to have had work produced at Long Wharf Theater (Spinning), and Prospect Theatre’s Developmental Workshop Series (Dora Dreams of Fire). I just became a first-year member of the famed BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.
A big part of what I do is to compose concert music. Coming back to composition after several decades devoted to producing theater, I've focused for the last few years on vocal works. The most recent full length concert of my original compositions, titled Why Do We Still Gather, took place on October 7, 2023 in Ridgefield, CT as part of the Fall Music Series at Jesse Lee Methodist Church. It featured the song cycles Prophets and Prophecies, and Men I Almost Knew, the premiere of Intentions, for small male ensemble, cello and piano, the chamber work Night of the Iguana for violin and piano, and several musical theater songs.
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I've had a passion to teach throughout my professional career. As an educator I was the resident musical director at the Savannah College of Art and Design for four years and have served as an adjunct instructor for the musical theater programs at PACE University and The Hartt School. In the Fall of 2023 I taught a course in theater management at Western Connecticut State University.
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My contributions as a commercial theatrical producer include The Blue Flower (NYMF and Prospect Theater), Virtuosa (NYMF), Speed The Plow (Broadway), Carousel (2009 West End revival) and Blood Type Ragu (off-Broadway).