Tribute

Although I've finished another day of orientation today, and have some to report about that, I feel the need today to lay that aside and pay tribute to a great friend we lost recently. Dr. Leonard Riccinto, better known to those who knew and loved him as "Len" and "Doc", lost his battle with cancer early last week. Len was a talented musician, devoted family man, and just a tremendous human being.

I first met him 18 years ago (in 1988 for the mathematically disinclined) when some friends and I were in the process of launching a men's chorus, "Measure for Measure, a Men's Choral Society" (MfM), in the Ann Arbor area. One of us had learned about Len and invited him to meet with the rest of the founders about the job of director. At our meeting at a local pub, Len's enthusiasm for the position--and for having a men's chorus for "mature" men in the area--was obvious. So Len directed our group for the next 18 years, leading us as we grew to musical prominence far beyond what we had ever hoped.

Coincidentally, at our initial meeting we discovered Len had something in common with the rest of the founders--we were all alumni of the famed University of Michigan Men's Glee Club (although Len was a "few" years ahead of the rest of us). The saddest irony of the timing of Len's passing is that he died one day after we finally realized an 18-year dream, that of MfM sharing a concert with the U-M Glee Club. And due to his illness, Len was unable to attend that event for which I'm sure he longed.

I'm not intending to write Len's obituary here. The preceding information was just some helpful background before I mention a couple personal remembrances, things about Len or that he did that will always mean a lot to me.

Len gave me my biggest thrill in music, that is besides guiding MfM to such heights. In 1996 Len had the opportunity to direct at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and I joined the choir he would bring along with him (to be joined by several other choir groups from around the country). We were to perform two or three numbers, the names of which I can't remember right now. One of the pieces included a small "solo" choir (3 people on each of 3 or 4 parts), and Len asked me to be one of the tenors in the solo choir. To make a potentially long story short, let me just say that singing a "solo" (albeit with several others) at Carnegie Hall (yes, we did practice, practice, practice beforehand) for someone with my limited musical talents is about as thrilling as it can get. And I have Len to thank (and I did afterwards) for that memory that still thrills me when I think of it. Thanks, Doc!

The other thing I want to mention is not something that Len did, or even knew about. But it's an interesting symmetry in my life. My own dad died when I was 18 years old. He, too, was a music teacher all his adult life, although he taught instrumental music--mainly strings--rather than vocal. But he started my musical education with violin lessons in the 3rd grade. That he started me down the road of music for the first 18 years of my life, and that Len led the way for the most recent 18, seems somehow profund. We lost both dedicated music educators far too early.

Thanks, Len, for your devotion not only to MfM, but for bringing music to so many people. And for doing so with such grace, enthusiasm, outright joy, and love. We will all surely miss you. The only explanation I can come up with for your early departure from this life is that God needed a good director for His choir of angels. Lead them well.

And thank you, readers, for allowing me this moment of tribute. I will resume my mundane musings about my new career tomorrow. Keep on truckin'.