Singing for Bob: Tales and Testimonials

Dear Bob,
Happy 75th Birthday! What an amazing milestone! We are all so blessed to have you in our lives, and as a
driving force of TCCW. What I would like to say is nothing you have not heard before, but still bears
repeating on this occasion.
We met in the fall of 1971. My family had just moved to Vienna from NJ. (yes I had a funny accent!). I had
been in the marching band in NJ, and went over to Madison with my mom one August afternoon to
audition. I don't even remember the band director's name, but he declared that my sight reading skills were
not good enough for his band, but thanks for coming. I was disappointed, but as we were leaving, we saw a
sign for the chorus room down the hall. We poked our heads in, and you happened to be there. You
welcomed us with your beautiful smile, and informally auditioned me, and invited me to join the Madison
Choir. My life has not ever been the same. From the very first strains of O Magnum Mysterium, to you
asking me to join Madrigals later that winter, I knew you were doing something very special.
When you talk about Mme. Boulanger being your musical mother, I could certainly say you were my
musical dad. None of us kids were particularly spectacular, but you instilled such marvelous work habits,
that the sum of our parts far exceeded any one individual, and that was a brilliant feeling. From premiers at
the National Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection, the Kennedy Center (concert hall, not the Grand Foyer,
where all the other high schools performed), we worked diligently, but didn't know it was hard. It was just
what we did. Singing the B Minor Mass in the spring of '72 was certainly the highlight of my secondary
school career, and I have felt so fortunate to be able to perform it again with you. You have such a gift of
discovering some new gem regardless of how many times you have performed a piece.
My two personal favorite memories are at the Kennedy Center, after the '72 Munich Olympics where the
Israeli athletes were shot, we performed the War Requiem, where the Madrigal girls were the boys choir. I
forget if Dorati or Rostrapovich was conducting; but at the end, the audience leapt to their feet. Maestro
took a bow, then motioned to you to acknowledge us, and to bring us forward to the stage. I was on the
end, and you pushed me down the aisle first. I will never forget walking down that long aisle to the
cheering of the audience- we were just doing our jobs, nothing special. Except it was very special. You
have thereby ruined me for practically every other group I have sung with. But we won't belabor that here!
The second memory is when we sang at the funeral for Juan Peron at St. Matthew's. We were in the choir
loft, and there was a lot of security around for all of the international heads of state. One of the Secret
Service agents stationed in the loft area was actually smoking a cigar!! We girls were tittering about that, so I
went up to him and asked him to put it out, it was bothering our breathing. And he actually
did! Go figure.
All this to say is the gifts you have given all of us are simply inestimable, and I am forever in your debt!!
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, and many, many more!!
With love,
Kathy Lupinacci