Monday, December 9, 2019
I never actually met Richard - I had the honor of singing in the Oral Roberts Univ concert choir as a freshman in 1977-78. That year, the choir director, named Tony Catanzariti, had Richard sing the lead in a Charles Ives piece called "General William Booth Enters Heaven." It was a pretty modern, avant garde piece, and we performed it in the campus chapel service. I suspect that Mr Catanzariti saw it as his mission to "stretch the ears" of President Oral Roberts. Of course, Richard did a marvelous job of singing it (the choir even recorded an album that year, recorded at Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church, featuring Richard). The piece had a wonderfully meaningful message, but was not melodious--I think it created a bit of a scandal for the President, which I suspect was a source of considerable delight to both Tony and Richard. Thanks, Richard, for your great voice, and for great memories of my only year in the ORU concert choir--I went on to become a family physician in WV.
