WHAT MADE ME LOVE MUSIC: KATHY DOANE, WRITER

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

kathy

I can’t talk about the music that made me love music without remembering the exact moment it happened. I was 9 years old and it was in music class, a weekly gathering where we sang out of songbook of American classics, folk tunes, patriotic songs, a real mix. The song that sparked my passion: “Funiculi Funicula,” I have no idea why, but it was so powerful. It is a joyous song by nature, and I felt that in every nook and cranny of my body and brain when we sang. I’ve tried to explain those emotions to friends and the best I could ever come up with was, “It made me soar inside.” Music has sparked that same reaction countless times since, especially many choral and symphonic pieces, a few operatic arias and many, many musical theater tunes. I’m still soaring, thank God!

Kathy Doane, writer, journalist, educator, editor, musician, dear friend

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”