April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
COOPERSTOWN
Paternal music prof is also new Catholic
That's how Stephen Markuson, an adjunct music professor in the western part of the Albany Diocese, ends each of his classes.
The students "get real quiet," he told The Evangelist. "[I tell them], 'Feel free to laugh, but you're all my kids.'"
Mr. Markuson, a parishioner of St. Mary's Church in Cooperstown and a recent convert to Catholicism, is well-versed in parenting: He became a stepfather to three small children, now adults, when he married his second wife, Cira, in 1993.
In 2003, Mrs. Markuson lost a battle with breast cancer. Being widowed prompted her husband to become more fatherly with his students as an outlet for grief.
"Why does academia have to be so restrictive?" he realized, adding: "That [change], with my Catholic faith, really saved my life."
But the road to Catholicism wasn't easy: "I was so angry at God that I didn't know what to do. But being angry is not going to change the situation."
Raised in the Methodist faith, Mr. Markuson started reading the Psalms, finding comfort there and in the stories of Job and Elijah. He saw a therapist and began thinking about a pilgrimage to Lourdes that he and Cira, a Catholic, had taken years before.
"It struck me very much - especially the Virgin Mary," he remembered. "I was just taken over by the concept of everyone being there [visiting Lourdes] for that reason."
Four years ago, Mr. Markuson attended a Mass at St. Mary's. He recognized the pastor, Rev. John Rosson, who'd been a guest at his wedding. The liturgy reminded him of his wife and comforted him. He decided to join the Catholic Church.
"I needed something to hold me," he said. "I thought I was just going to fall apart. [In the Church], the door is always open."
On Saturday evenings, Mr. Markuson now travels 17 miles from his Oneonta home to cantor at St. Mary's vigil Masses. He's grown close to Father Rosson and says he would "do anything for him.
"There [are] few people that I really know besides my mother and my wife who do what they say they'll do," Mr. Markuson explained. "He's an example of what he says."
Raised downstate in Newburgh, Mr. Markuson earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in music and spent a summer as an opera apprentice in Lake George. He moved to New York City and sang opera around the U.S. and Europe.
Two decades ago, he began teaching at Hartwick College in Oneonta, then added SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Delhi. He teaches the history of different musical genres in addition to voice, pop culture and other courses.
A performer in the first season of the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown 40 years ago, Mr. Markuson was known throughout his career for large character roles - often demonic or strange ones.
"I was kind of like the Johnny Depp of opera," he said.
Oddly, he doesn't like being the center of attention. The characters he played in operas stand in contrast to the personality of a man who still stays in close contact with his stepchildren.
When he became a cantor at St. Mary's, his operatic voice took some getting used to for parishioners, but he told them: "This is just the way I sing. God gave me this gift. Why should I take away from it when I'm singing for Him?"[[In-content Ad]]
250 X 250 AD
250 X 250 AD
Events
250 X 250 AD
Comments:
You must login to comment.