Campus Currents

And on That Note ...

They will be turning over a new note, so to speak, as Glenn and Kathleen Spring relocate to Denver, Colo., where they will continue to define their lives by music.

Glenn Spring, professor of music, retired after dedicating 36 years to teaching string lessons and theory classes in the music department. His career is also peppered with numerous original compositions. Glenn’s current project is a Christmas cantata for choir and orchestra commissioned by the Augustana Lutheran Church in Denver for 2002. The cantata will include a 19-line poem of fixed form, a villanelle, now being written by Dan Lamberton, a Walla Walla College humanities professor.

Kathleen, a 1974 WWC graduate, began teaching music in a home studio and then at Clara E. Rogers Elementary School, where she eventually directed three orchestras. She has also led the successful Walla Walla Valley Suzuki string program, now involving more than 100 students and two other adult teachers. The Suzuki program’s success lies in its core philosophy that every child can learn and benefit from music.

As the program nurtured more and more musical talent in the Walla Walla Valley, Glenn, Kathleen and fellow WWC string teacher Benjamin Gish founded Cantabile, a string orchestra for Walla Walla Valley youth.

Since its beginning in 1994, Cantabile has made several overseas tours, the most recent in 1999 when they performed in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland.

After touching so many lives in Walla Walla, Glenn and Kathleen are not leaving without looking back.

“It’s bittersweet,” Glenn says. “We’ve lived here for a long time, we’ve got lots of friends and relatives, ... and the valley is beautiful.”

In Denver, however, they have many professional opportunities. Glenn is looking forward to more freelance conducting and composition. Kathleen, who completed a master’s in violin performance at the University of Denver in 2000, will have a violin studio at Augustana Institute of Music and also perform with the Montview Trio. W

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