Barone Cited For Longevity
On Saturday, February 16, 2002 at the
AMPPR Board of Directors Meeting held during the Music Personnel Conference
in Savannah, Georgia, the following resolution was passed:
Whereas, PIPEDREAMS began more than 20 years ago, with recordings
made in the summer of 1980 during a national convention of the American
Guild of Organists held in the Twin Cities
Whereas PIPEDREAMS has provided a national audience with premieres
of works by such noted composers as Robert Ward, Alberto Ginastera and
Calvin Hampton
Whereas through his unfailing dedication to providing the highest quality
programming, Michael Barone has sustained a twenty-year relationship with
program sponsors Mr. & Mrs. Wesley C. Dudley
Whereas PIPEDREAMS national reach has grown from 64 stations in its
first year to 180 stations today
Whereas Michael Barone has produced nearly 800 PIPEDREAMS programs
providing more hours of organ music to a national radio audience than any
other American program, past or present
Whereas PIPEDREAMS and Michael Barone have been recognized by the American
Guild of Organists (1996 Presidents Award), the Organ Historical Society
(1997 Distinguished Service Award), and ASCAP/American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers (2001 Deems Taylor Broadcast Award for Excellence)
Whereas Michael Barone has a ten-year backlog of great material waiting
to get into the PIPEDREAMS pipeline (!)
Now therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Directors of The Association
of Music Personnel in Public Radio expresses its profound appreciation
to Michael Barone for his inestimable service to the institution of classical
music on public radio, and for his manifest contributions to the service
public radio provides to audiences nationwide.
To which Michael Barone has responded in
thanks:
Your celebratory resolution pleased me
inordinately. I feel particularly humbled by it because Ive not been much
of a participant in recent AMPPR activities, and also because I know that
there are many others (all of us?) in this business who put in the long
hours with dogged determination to provide good news to all people (actually,
good music). In reality, many others deserve salutations, too. Even so,
I thank you, sincerely.
Reflecting upon my nearly thirty-five
years in public radio, I am astonished by the overall progress which has
been made as the system has grown and attracted listeners, and also daunted
by the challenges we face in keeping our particular part of the public
radio banquet fresh and available. Recent realignments by stations and
national distributors have caused more than a few tremors of concern.
But even in the face of change, after
all these years I still am motivated by the power of musicthis marvelous
energy source with which, and for which, we live. My family liked classical
music. Im not quite sure why I became so involved with it at such an early
age (literally before I could reason). Driving from the Savannah luncheon
to my return flight (from Atlanta...dont ask), I listened to the (oft
maligned) Met Opera broadcast of La Boheme, happy to find it available
on my rental car radio, entertained by the Opera Quiz and Peter Allens
solemn introductions, moved to tears (inevitably?) during the final moments.
Since then, I have had some further
revelations. I led a mixed crew of Pipedreams enthusiasts (a waiter,
a stock broker, two lawyers, two retired ministers with wives, a dairy
farmer, librarian, school teacher, four engineershydraulic, mechanical,
electrical, electronic) on a tour of historic organs in Bach Country
in eastern Germany. I was moved by their eagerness, innocence, and delight
as they listened to instruments two-, three-, and four-hundred years old.
Ive also done some Pipedreams Live!
eventsin Madison, central and rural-northwestern Minnesota, and our Twin
Citieswhere I was moved by hands-on interaction with the organ crowd,
eager, friendly folks who were all over the map, demographically: a three-year-old
and two eight-year olds (who listen every week), middle-school kids, high-school
kids, twenty-somethings, folks younger and older than I am.people involved
in music, or involved WITH music, people with ears who hear.
I also attended (yes, and produced)
a nine-hour marathon performance of the complete organ works of Olivier
Messiaen (!) played by Paul Jacobs, an incredibly talented and focused
25-year-old Yale grad student (who did the complete Bach organ works on
July 28, 2000, in an eighteen-hour marathonthis kid has stamina, and is
GOOD!). We broadcast three hours live. More marvelous than the crowd that
showed up at the Basilica was the response of listeners to the broadcast
portions, which they found fascinating.
Also totally unscientific but interesting,
my brother (an architectural photographer working in eastern Pennsylvania
and New York) has been amazed by the unaccountable diversity of the non-musicians
with whom he has come in contact through various projects who, upon discovering
his Barone connection, reveal that they listen regularly to Pipedreams.
Does this all mean anything? Perhaps
no more than what we knew at the start, that classical music (and organ
music, too) is emotionally compelling, spiritually affirming, attractive
to many who might not even know it yet, and undeniably necessary for others
for whom Public Radio broadcasts provide cogent connection. These folks
are out there, of wide-ranging ages and backgrounds, waiting for more
moments of enchantment, and not just the same-old-same-old. Its up to
us, stilland the performers and composers from times past and present
who provide us with the meatto keep the banquet table full, and fresh
and inviting. After that, there is no turning back. Thank youfor listening.
Michael Barone
Minnesota Public Radio
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