Matt Miller writes: Here's another note from a Goldsboro alum, Tom Spring:
Thank you very much for your column on George.
Like you, I was introduced to George early in my live, in a forced audition for a choir he was forming sometime around 1958 or 1959, when I was in the fourth grade in a very sleepy town called Goldsboro, North Carolina. He had just come to town to teach chorus in the town's school system, only he and God know why, and was searching for great voices. Not mine -- I could not carry a tune to the bathroom, which was where actually I ended up in sheer horror immediately after my botched performance. Nonetheless, perhaps because of my sister, who became one of his star performers both in Goldsboro and The Lost Colony, but I suspect because of his love for troubled youth, he took me under his wing and allowed me to "sing" in the very back row of his chorus, where I'd never be heard. It never got better, and eventually I branched out to be the "business manager" for the chorus, a real euphemism which meant I was in charge of getting free radio publicity, etc. I was with him all through school.
You well know the story. While I never did and still don't like G&S (can I never get Iolanthe's "Bow, bow ye lower middle classes" out of my head???), my love for the Hallelujah Chorus led to more Beethoven, then Chopin, Bach, and so on, eventually thrilling me with ancient polyphonic motets and the like and, ultimately, Wagner. Now I will travel anywhere in the world for a special concert by the Tallis Scholars, Nina Stemme singing Brunnhilde or Isolde, a Tannhauser performance, and so on.
George definitely informed my life, and for that I will be forever grateful to him. I think of him often, and most definitely always before the start of a performance.
I would say I will miss him, but like you, he and I have had no contact since then except for a chance meeting in Bloomingdales many years ago, after he had moved to New York. But he will always be right where he always was for me, imbedded deeply in my psyche, for the rest of my life. Oddly enough, several weeks ago I had started on a letter of thanks to him which, sadly, I never finished or sent, and now must remain in my heart.
If you will, please, I would very much appreciate it if you would send me the link to the Facebook page you mentioned. I do not understand how Facebook works and was unable to find anything on him. I would like to see what others are saying.
Also, do you by chance know if there is or was a memorial service?
Tom Spring
Washington, D.C.
Thank you very much for your column on George.
Like you, I was introduced to George early in my live, in a forced audition for a choir he was forming sometime around 1958 or 1959, when I was in the fourth grade in a very sleepy town called Goldsboro, North Carolina. He had just come to town to teach chorus in the town's school system, only he and God know why, and was searching for great voices. Not mine -- I could not carry a tune to the bathroom, which was where actually I ended up in sheer horror immediately after my botched performance. Nonetheless, perhaps because of my sister, who became one of his star performers both in Goldsboro and The Lost Colony, but I suspect because of his love for troubled youth, he took me under his wing and allowed me to "sing" in the very back row of his chorus, where I'd never be heard. It never got better, and eventually I branched out to be the "business manager" for the chorus, a real euphemism which meant I was in charge of getting free radio publicity, etc. I was with him all through school.
You well know the story. While I never did and still don't like G&S (can I never get Iolanthe's "Bow, bow ye lower middle classes" out of my head???), my love for the Hallelujah Chorus led to more Beethoven, then Chopin, Bach, and so on, eventually thrilling me with ancient polyphonic motets and the like and, ultimately, Wagner. Now I will travel anywhere in the world for a special concert by the Tallis Scholars, Nina Stemme singing Brunnhilde or Isolde, a Tannhauser performance, and so on.
George definitely informed my life, and for that I will be forever grateful to him. I think of him often, and most definitely always before the start of a performance.
I would say I will miss him, but like you, he and I have had no contact since then except for a chance meeting in Bloomingdales many years ago, after he had moved to New York. But he will always be right where he always was for me, imbedded deeply in my psyche, for the rest of my life. Oddly enough, several weeks ago I had started on a letter of thanks to him which, sadly, I never finished or sent, and now must remain in my heart.
If you will, please, I would very much appreciate it if you would send me the link to the Facebook page you mentioned. I do not understand how Facebook works and was unable to find anything on him. I would like to see what others are saying.
Also, do you by chance know if there is or was a memorial service?
Tom Spring
Washington, D.C.
